





















































































Lip Reading Made Easy 


A series of twenty-four lessons for the use of the 
deaf and hard of hearing in home and school: 
with short essays upon related subjects 
intended to assist all persons with 
impaired hearing 


By 


BELLE HAMMOND TURNER 

»t 


Member of The Speech-Reading Club of Philadelphia, Pa. 
Member of the Speech Readers’ Guild of Boston, and of the 
Newton Lip Readers’ Club of Auburndale, 
Massachusetts 




Copyright, 1924, in U. S. A., By Belle H. Turner 


All Rights Reserved 


Xs 




Printed in United States of America 


The Graphic Press, Newton, Massachusetts 


AUb 21 i924 

©CH801439 




TO 

MARTHA E. BRUHN 

AS A TOKEN OF ADMIRATION 
AND AFFECTION 


I fancied he was fled,— 

And, after many a year, 

Glowed unexhausted kindliness, 

Like daily sunrise there. 

My careful heart was free again, 

O friend, my bosom said, 

Through thee alone the sky is arched, 
Through thee the rose is red; 

All things through thee take nobler form, 
And look beyond the earth, 

The mill round of our fate appears 
A sun-path in thy worth. 

Me too thy nobleness has taught 
To master my despair; 

The fountains of my hidden life 
Are through thy friendship fair. 


R. W. Emerson. 


PREFACE 


Lip reading is a real tax upon the mind. This cannot be 
denied. But just think what we are trying to do! We are 
trying to learn to read all the words in the English language, 
and not only that, but we are trying to learn to read them as 
they are spoken in different ways by all the different pairs of 
lips in the world. Although some individuals undoubtedly 
learn more readily than others, lip reading is always difficult 
and exasperating, and a great deal of patience and perseverance 
is required. The eyes weary and the whole body rebels. For 
this reason, it is wise to make the first lessons as simple and 
interesting as possible and to make everything relaxed and un¬ 
restrained. Public school methods should be avoided. The 
adult deaf are willing to be taught, pitifully so sometimes, and 
we may allow a freedom with them which might be impossible 
with a child. 

A good light which reaches the lips of both pupil and in¬ 
structor is the first essential; it should not be an overhead light 
and should be daylight if possible. A stiff and uncomfortable 
position should be avoided. As the best distance for sight 
varies in different people, the seating arrangements should be 
movable and adjustable. A very good way when teaching one 
pupil alone is to use two small wicker rockers (with arms). 
These chairs should be placed side by side, but facing in 
opposite directions, making what is called an “S” chair. This 
will be found a perfect arrangement, especially as in speaking 
to each other the face may be a little turned away, in a very 
usual position. 

We are seldom able to talk with people directly facing us; 
they move their heads more or less with every word they 
speak, and we have to learn to catch their meaning as best 
we may. Given then a good clear light, comfortable chairs, a 
willing pupil, a good instructor and a good practice book, all 
that is needed further, is application. 


This book is not intended to take the place of teachers. A 
good teacher is always to be sought if possible in every 
case. When we study the piano or a foreign language we 
visit the teacher once a week or twice a week but we do a 
great deal of studying during the week at home. We spend 
an hour or two hours or perhaps longer each day working at 
what the teacher has explained to us and in that way we learn. 
We should do the same with lip reading and this little book 
will supply a want for “something to practice on” which has 
often been expressed. 

Where the student is alone, this book will be found useful 
in a high degree, for these exercises are so simply arranged 
that any ordinary reader may be the assistant; all that is neces¬ 
sary is a person who speaks distinctly without pouting the 
lips, and who is willing to go over and over the whole book 
with you. If an assistant is not to be found, a great deal may 
be accomplished by the use of a hand mirror. The mirror should 
be placed upon a window sill allowing the light to come full 
in the face. A triplicate mirror gives the lips in profile and 
is interesting, or perhaps a corner arrangement might be used. 

Any way of practicing is better than not to practice at all, 
and the eyes will gradually begin to. learn to see the lip move¬ 
ments. It is very important to take up the work regularly and 
methodically, to have a regular time for the practice and to 
allow nothing to interfere. Let the skies fall, but do not omit 
that practice—that hour of steady work every day. Do you 
really wish to learn ? Do you realize that it is the most important 
thing in your whole life? Do you know that lip reading is a 
blessing sent straight from Heaven to make life endurable for 
deafened adults? Then take this little book and master it, 
work—study—learn, and your friends will reward you by their 
appreciation and gratitude. 


B. H. T. 


INSTRUCTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 


In arranging these practice sentences it has been considered 
wise to begin with the four sounds of the vowel A, placing 
them in connection with different consonants in order to use 
familiar words. The sounds of A as usually classified are,— 

A as in ale A as in arm 

A as in all A as in ask 

Many words also which are spelled with O have a sound 
exactly like A and therefore have been included here. 

Upon studying the English alphabet, with its five vowels 
and twenty-one consonants, we find that the vowels have many 
different sounds, while the consonants do not vary; fortunate 
it is for the lip reader that this is true, for it makes the 
study of the language a simpler matter. Once learned, these 
letters will always be the same wherever found. 

There is one advantage in learning to read language by 
the use of the eyes in the fact that a number of the consonants 
are homonyms and while sounding very different to the ear, 
appear to the eye to be exactly the same. With these letters, 
the lips move in the same way, and therefore when one letter 
is learned the others are mastered. 

The principal homonyms, otherwise called homophones, in 
the English alphabet are the letters (M, B, and P) also (D, T, 
and N). Others are (K, hard C and hard G), also (F and V) 
(J and soft G) and (S, soft C and Z). 

Eliminating these six groups from the whole alphabet it 
will be found that there are only three consonants which ac¬ 
tually stand alone and do not resemble any other letters. 
These are the letters H, L, and R. The letters Q and W 
are usually combined with other letters; Y sometimes being 
used as a vowel. 

To say that the letters M, B, and P are related seems absurd 


This book is not intended to take the place of teachers. A 
good teacher is always to be sought if possible in every 
case. When we study the piano or a foreign language we 
visit the teacher once a week or twice a week but we do a 
great deal of studying during the week at home. We spend 
an hour or two hours or perhaps longer each day working at 
what the teacher has explained to us and in that way we learn. 
We should do the same with lip reading and this little book 
will supply a want for “something to practice on” which has 
often been expressed. 

Where the student is alone, this book will be found useful 
in a high degree, for these exercises are so simply arranged 
that any ordinary reader may be the assistant; all that is neces¬ 
sary is a person who speaks distinctly without pouting the 
lips, and who is willing to go over and over the whole book 
with you. If an assistant is not to be found, a great deal may 
be accomplished by the use of a hand mirror. The mirror should 
be placed upon a window sill allowing the light to come full 
in the face. A triplicate mirror gives the lips in profile and 
is interesting, or perhaps a corner arrangement might be used. 

Any way of practicing is better than not to practice at all, 
and the eyes will gradually begin to. learn to see the lip move¬ 
ments. It is very important to take up the work regularly and 
methodically, to have a regular time for the practice and to 
allow nothing to interfere. Let the skies fall, but do not omit 
that practice—that hour of steady work every day. Do you 
really wish to learn ? Do you realize that it is the most important 
thing in your whole life? Do you know that lip reading is a 
blessing sent straight from Heaven to make life endurable for 
deafened adults? Then take this little book and master it, 
work—study—learn, and your friends will reward you by their 
appreciation and gratitude. 


B. H. T. 


INSTRUCTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 


In arranging these practice sentences it has been considered 
wise to begin with the four sounds of the vowel A, placing 
them in connection with different consonants in order to use 
familiar words. The sounds of A as usually classified are,— 


A as in ale 
A as in all 


A as in arm 
A as in ask 


Many words also which are spelled with O have a sound 
exactly like A and therefore have been included here. 

Upon studying the English alphabet, with its five vowels 
and twenty-one consonants, we find that the vowels have many 
different sounds, while the consonants do not vary; fortunate 
it is for the lip reader that this is true, for it makes the 
study of the language a simpler matter. Once learned, these 
letters will always be the same wherever found. 

There is one advantage in learning to read language by 
the use of the eyes in the fact that a number of the consonants 
are homonyms and while sounding very different to the ear, 
appear to the eye to be exactly the same. With these letters, 
the lips move in the same way, and therefore when one letter 
is learned the others are mastered. 

The principal homonyms, otherwise called homophones, in 
the English alphabet are the letters (M, B, and P) also (D, T, 
and N). Others are (K, hard C and hard G), also (F and V) 
(J and soft G) and (S, soft C and Z). 

Eliminating these six groups from the whole alphabet it 
will be found that there are only three consonants which ac¬ 
tually stand alone and do not resemble any other letters. 
These are the letters H, L, and R. The letters Q and W 
are usually combined with other letters; Y sometimes being 
used as a vowel. 

To say that the letters M, B, and P are related seems absurd 


10 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


when we pronounce the names of these letters, as em, bee, 
and pea, but when we sound them phonetically and study our 
own lips with a mirror we see that the same muscles are used, 
the lower lip is brought up to the upper one and the two 
lips are pressed closely together, as we say M-m-m, B-b-b, 
and P-p-p. The only difference is in the amount of breath 
which is blown out between the lips: this may be distinguished 
by placing the palm of the hand in front of the mouth when 
pronouncing these sounds. There is also a stronger movement 
of the diaphragm in B and in P than in M which will be 
noticed upon placing the hand at the waist line. 

The word homophonous which is often used in the study 
of lip reading is derived from two Greek words—the homo 
meaning alike as in the long word homogeneous, and the word 
phone, meaning sound. This word phone is often found in the 
modern words like phonograph, telephone, etc., and is the 
same in both English and foreign languages. This word is 
sometimes spelled homophenous, which gives it an entirely 
different derivation and a different pronunciation. 

The short words which are found at the beginning of some 
of the lessons are intended to call attention to the phonetic 
sounds which are to be used in the exercise. They should be 
practiced with a hearing person for they are so much alike 
that a teacher who could not hear would easily misunderstand 
them. They are not to be dwelt on, but are to lead immediately 
to the sentences. The sentences contain all these sounds and 
give the desired practice. Remember that the important point 
is not to understand what these sentences mean, but to be able 
to recognize the words when you see them on the lips of other 
people and in other connections. Try not to commit the sen¬ 
tences to memory but have your reader skip about in the 
lessons after going through them carefully. Sometimes it is 
wise not to use the voice when practicing alone but to practice 
with an emphatic whisper; however, if a teacher or reader is 


Lip Reading Made Easy 11 

available be sure to have her use her voice, always avoiding 
over-enunciation. 

Do not work on one thing too long at a time, and try to 
vary the practice. These sentences are arranged to be sug¬ 
gestive of conversation; the little poem, bringing in the desired 
study word, or the comical story will sometimes relieve the 
tension and prove a blessing. We are exceedingly susceptible 
to humor and pathos, and whatever is read by the lips seems 
to make an indelible impression. The mind makes photo¬ 
graphs unconsciously. It is as if we were forming a collection 
of precious stones or a long string of beads; each word learned, 
each phrase mastered gives us a better vocabulary and makes 
us better fitted to face the world. 





HOW TO USE THE PRACTICE SENTENCES 


Much of this practice work is in the form of detached phrases 
which often occur in daily life; they have no sequence, therefore 
should not be studied in any special order, but each phrase by 
itself. 

With a beginner it will be impossible to cover a whole 
section in an hour’s lesson. Sometimes not more than a dozen 
of these sentences can be learned in that time. With a pupil 
very hard of hearing and where a hearing tube is not available, 
it is better to write out the sentence and then read it to the 
student slowly, speaking each word clearly. Tell him what 
you are going to say and then say it slowly, and have him 
repeat it after you, watching your lips closely. Pass him a 
small mirror also, and have him say the sentence, studying his 
own lips. Although these lessons are divided in sections of 
twenty-four lessons, material will be found in each part for at 
least three ordinary lessons. This will depend upon the pro¬ 
ficiency of the student; but it is not advisable to leave any 
work until it has been well studied and thoroughly reviewed. 
When these lessons are used in class, the number of pupils 
should be limited to five, in order to do satisfactory work. A 
table about three feet square will be found convenient; the 
pupils arranged so that all face the teacher. With this arrange¬ 
ment the teacher is able to watch the lips of each one, and as 
she turns from one to the other, her face is in a most natural 
position at all times. The pupils should revolve around the 
teacher, in order to give each the advantage of studying the lips 
in full face, half profile, and profile. At times, the teacher 
should rise from her chair and, walking back and forth, repeat 
the sentences which are being studied; her position should al¬ 
ways be a little above the pupil, but not so much as to weary the 


14 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


eyes from looking up. Avoid above all things having the pupils 
ranged in a long straight line, for in such a case the ones seated 
at the ends will be at a great disadvantage. If the class is 
larger than five, arrange them in the same way, as nearly in 
front of the teacher as possible, but always avoiding placing any 
of them too far at the sides. 

After carefully seating each pupil and adjusting the light so 
that it falls upon the lips of the teacher, the sentences are given, 
one at a time, to the whole class. The teacher will at once 
observe that one has read it, perhaps two, but the others have 
not. She gives it again and perhaps two more have it, and the 
four are repeating it to themselves. She then calls upon one 
of these to repeat it for the class. In this way the sentence 
is given by a different pair of lips and probably by that time 
all will have it. 

The teacher then repeats the sentence carefully, for all, and 
later she will bring it up again, when it is not expected. 

One sentence mastered in this way is worth more than 
hours with half-learned sentences. 

If the student is allowed to sit and watch the teacher without 
understanding what is being said, the time is worse than 
wasted, for habits of inattention are being formed, and while 
the eyes may be fixed on the speaker, the mind is wandering. 
This is especially true in large evening classes, and should be 
guarded against. 

The teacher should remember that she is teaching lip read¬ 
ing and nothing else. She may be interested in many different 
subjects and capable of teaching them, but in this case, she 
should confine herself to the sentences, phrases and lessons 
found in this book. 

Lip reading is a matter of repetition. When we learned 
to decline a Latin noun or conjugate a French verb, we did 
not find it sufficient to have the teacher repeat it for us: we 
had to take it home and study it. We went over it and over 
it many times, until we could never forget it. That was a 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


15 


part of our drill. It trained the memory, and the study of lip 
reading trains the memory wonderfully. As the lessons proceed 
it is a delight to watch the mind of the student develop. From 
short and simple phrases which were too difficult to repeat 
word for word, he passes on to long and complicated ones, 
and can follow from one sentence to another without a pause. 
It becomes unnecessary to repeat from the teacher’s lips, for 
the mind becomes wholly absorbed in the matter it is reading; 
to repeat at this stage is to lose the train of thought, and 
grieves the spirit. The mood of reading the lips is acquired by 
degrees; we need to cultivate it with the utmost delicacy and 
care. When the teacher begins to see that intent, absorbed 
look appear in her pupil’s expression, she may feel that her 
work is going to be rewarded. Besides training the memory, 
the study of lip reading increases the power of concentration. 
Deaf people are noted for being able to keep their attention 
upon what they are doing; for obvious reasons, reading the 
lips only increases this power. 

Lip reading increases the power of observation. The eyes 
are trained to observe more accurately and to make their report 
to the brain without mistakes. 

Lip reading also increases the power of intuition to a marked 
extent. We know that there is as inner ear and an inner way of 
reaching the mind which is not dependent upon the external 
ear; all is not understood, but we know that deaf people are 
often able to understand what is said without being told; lip 
reading teaches them to observe and to draw a correct inference, 
and in the end to depend upon themselves. 

Deaf people are often shut out from intercourse with others, 
and no one will let them talk. It is often complained of. “They 
don’t talk to me” is the expression. “I don’t have any one to talk 
to,” they say, and it is too true. The teacher can show herself 
a true friend by taking extra time and listening; it will help 
to lighten the heavy burden, and she can in this way observe 
mannerisms of speech, ways that need correction, and she can 


16 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


very often do much more than just teach lip reading. She can 
give encouragement and when the worst comes and all seems 
lost, she can say: “Ask God to help you.” Taking a new pupil 
in a quiet room with no interruption, in her responsibility she 
cannot but feel that the Great Teacher must also be there. 


“Sir,” answered Sancho, “I see, indeed, that all the things 
you have told me are good, pious, and profitable; but of what 
use will they all be if I don’t remember one of them? Very 
likely all that you said about not letting my nails grow too long, 
and marrying again if I get a chance, I shall not forget; but 
for all the rest of that stew, and gallimanfry, and medley, I 
shan’t remember any more about it than about last year’s 
clouds. So you must give it to me written down; for suppose 
I can’t read or write, I can give it to my confessor, and he 
may pack it into me, and remind me of it whenever I need it.” 


Sancho Panza. 


























LESSON I 


Salutations and General Conversation 

It is very important that everyone should understand ordinary 
greetings and the lack of this knowledge often causes much 
embarrassment. It is also useful to know what reply is to be 
expected and a little practice with these phrases will be found 
invaluable. The teacher should often stop to give work con¬ 
nected with the phrases and to encourage a little conversation. 
She might call each pupil by name and say “Good morning, 

Mrs. -or “Good afternoon, Miss -,” at first 

looking towards the one she addresses, but later looking at some 
one else, in this way teaching to read the different names. 

With thorough practice of these ordinary phrases it will not 
be necessary for the student to tell each passer-by that he is 
deaf, but he will know what is said and make the usual casual 
response. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Good morning! How do you do ? It is a pleasant day; a 
fine day. How it rains! Good evening! Good day to you! 
Good night! Good bye! Good afternoon! Allow me! Excuse 
me! Pardon me! Certainly. Sure. I want to introduce a 
friend of mine. Thank you. I shall be pleased. It is a very 
dear friend. It gives me pleasure. Miss Smith, allow me to 
present Mr. Brown. Good evening, Miss Smith. It seems to 
me we have met before. It is just possible. I can’t just 
remember where. When will you be at home. Almost any 
day. My day at home is Thursday. 

If I should come Thursday, would you give me some tea? 

Yes, indeed I would. Can’t you come out to see me? 





20 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


Do come: Come soon. Come next week. 

I shall be home all the week. I will look for you. 

I shall expect you. I want to see you very much. 

What street do you live on. I’ve forgotten the name of 

your street. I live on-street. 

Where do you live? Is it far from here? 

Not so very far. It is near the Park. Near what Park? 
You will need to take the trolley? I don’t enjoy the trolley. 
I will take a taxi. That costs more. 

Not so very much more. I must say good-bye. 

I don’t like to say good-bye. 

I really must go. Why do you go so soon? 

Must you go? Yes; I have an engagement. 

Don’t be in a hurry. Isn’t it cold. How cold it is! 

It is freezing weather. It’s too cold here. 

What a bad day it is! What nice weather! 

Beautiful! Lovely! Charming! Awful! Dreadful! 

I never saw anything like it. Are you going out ? 

Yes; I have to go down town. You will find it is pretty cold. 
I don’t care. I don’t care a bit. Are you going to the City ? 

Yes; I have to go shopping. When do you think you will 
be back? 

Sometime this afternoon. Don’t wait dinner for me. 

I may want to stay to the theatre. Very well, that will be 
all right. 

I wish I could go with you. Well, come on then. 

Why not? Why, yes indeed. We’ll have a good time. 

I like to have you go with me. But I haven’t any money. 
Never mind. I have plenty. You don’t need any money. 
We can see the styles just as well. I’ll be ready right off. 
Wait for me. Don’t wait for me. 

I’ll wait for you. I’ll be right down. 

I’ll be watching for you. I’ll wait at the door. 

Don’t go off without me. I’ll have to get ready. 

I am ready now. 




Lip Reading Made Easy 


21 


These phrases are taken from some of the best modern books 
and show what colloquial forms are. They are often ungram¬ 
matical and slangy, but the lip reader wishes to know them and 
to be able to understand them. 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

I know all about it. Speak louder; I can’t hear you. 

Don’t talk so loud. 

Don’t you want to go to the theatre with us to-night? 
Thank you; but I’ve got a date myself. 

Could I use your phone? Mother gone out? 

No, it’s nothing important. It’s rotten luck. 

Where’ve you been? That’s just what I’ve been thinking. 
I thought it was first-rate. That’s his business. 

It isn’t my funeral. That’s really awful. 

Calm down! They’re all right. 

I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. Who was it? 
Who’s that? What were you saying? 

What on earth are you talking about? 

No, of course not. Yes, I know. That depends. 

Search me. Oh yes, I’ll be here. You bet. 

Had a good day? Look at that. Sure thing. Listen. 

Listen a minute. Oh I suppose so. Naturally. 

Yes indeed. I knew you would. 

That is most unwise. 

That is indiscreet of you. Of course I do. 

Don’t you remember what I said to you yesterday? 

Yes, that’s true—it is very true. 

What is it ? What is that ? What did he say ? 

She wanted to know what it was. 

I don’t think I’d better go tonight. 

I think I ought to stay home. 

I’ve got a cold—a bad cold. 

Is there anything the matter? ^No, of course not. 

I feel dreadfully about that. 


22 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


Why, what’s the matter with ’em? Nothing’s the matter. 
I don’t like that style. I shouldn’t wonder. 

Come in and sit down. Will that do? Take this chair. 
Why should he? Why not? Don’t you go away. 

You stay right here. I’ll be right back. 


LESSON II 


M—B—P 


This lesson groups the three homonyms M, B, and P, combin¬ 
ing them with the four principal sounds of the vowel A. 
These sounds are 


A—as in ale. A—as in arm 

A—as in all A—as in ask 


Begin by saying the following short words over to your¬ 
self, standing before a mirror, and repeating them aloud. If 
it is found annoying to practice aloud, an emphatic whisper 
will show you the shape of the lips; but if you have an assis¬ 
tant be sure to have the voice used. Do not exaggerate; form 
the words sweetly and naturally; relaxing the muscles as much 
as possible. 


may—muff 
may—pay 
buff—puff 
pay—puff 
puff—muff 


may—bay—pay—puff 
buff—may—buff—bay 
bay—bar—baw—ban 
ban—baw—ban—buff 
bar—bay—bar—baw 


Run these words together, at first slowly, gradually increas¬ 
ing the speed. When you feel quite familiar with them, ask 
some hearing person to pronounce them over for you in a 
natural manner, until they are mastered. After becoming 
somewhat familiar with these small words, take a group of 
the following sentences. It is well to study only three or 
four sentences at a time, returning to them again and again. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

We may go tomorrow. You may pick the flowers. 

May I go with you? The ship is sailing down the Bay. 



24 Lip Reading Made Easy 

Bay leaves grow in California. The Bay is full of lovely 
little islands. 

Shall I pay the fares for you? We must pay everything at 
the office before we go. 

I want to pay for everything this time. March is a month 
of storms. 

The little child was saying “Mamma” all the time. I saw the 
man say “yes, Marm.” 

We must not let the bars down. The Balm of Gilead is 
a handsome tree. 

We went to an Oyster Bar for supper. 

This is a good place to park the car. She told my fortune 
from my palm. 

The palm is given to the victor. Palms are given away on 
Palm Sunday. 

Foolish Proverbs 

Listen to these proverbs and see if you can give the correct 
versions: 

A miss is as good as a married woman. 

A straw hat shows which way the wind blows. 

It’s a long lane that has no ash barrel. 

A word to the wise is useless. 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Tremont Mall is a very pleasant walk on the Common in 
Boston. 

What a beautiful morning! I feel very mortified about it. 

Are you going to the ball game with me? Yes I am going 
to play ball. 

She wore an old gray bonnet. The fog hangs over the river 
like a pall. 

That is only a paltry sum. You must have had a hole in your 
pocket. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 25 

She wore a mask when she went to the Ball. “Have Faith 
in Massachusetts.” 

I told the man to be more careful next time. I think that 
would be a bad mistake. What time are you coming back? 
How bashful she is; she should be more courageous. 

“Bye, Baby, Buntin. Papa’s gone a-huntin’, 

To get a little rabbit skin 

To wrap the Baby Buntin in.” 

Please pass me my cloak. The honey bees are basking in 
the sun. 

There is going to be a mass meeting tonight. Don’t you 
want me to pack up for you? 

Can I pass you anything? Maude Adams was very suc¬ 
cessful with the part of Peter Pan. 

My nice muff will keep me warm. Let me bring you your 
muff and collar. 

My gray kitten’s name is Muff. That dress is a handsome 
buff color. 

A sideboard is sometimes called a buffet. Did you go to 
see the circus with Buffalo Bill ? 

How the engine puffs going up the grade. The wind is 
blowing in little puffs. 

She had a lovely down puff for her couch. 


THE STORY 

Once a man was boasting of his sweet-heart’s popularity. 
“She is a mighty popular girl,” he said. “Why, just to show 
you how popular she is: She goes around to parties a lot, and 
they play a game where a girl is blind-folded, and then she 
walks around and taps some young fellow on the shoulder. Then 
he has either to kiss her or give her a quarter. Say, many a 
time she has come home from a party with $8 or $10.” 



LESSON III 

The Letter S 


In pronouncing the letter S the teeth are brought evenly 
together, the lips are opened so that the teeth may be seen, 
the tongue is brought up against the teeth and the air is blown 
out against the teeth to produce a sharp hissing sound. Prac¬ 
tice the following sounds, making the sound of S very emphatic, 
as if you said Essss—ay, Essss—an, Essss—ar, and study the 
working of the different muscles around the lower part of the 
mouth. You will notice that the lips are drawn open as in a 
smile, and in pronouncing the vowel A the jaw falls very 
perceptibly, the tongue being slightly seen. These motions are 
among the easiest to read and are very important. 


say—sar 
sar—say 
say—san 
saw—say 
san—saw 


saw—say 
san—saw 
saw—say 
say—say 
san—san 


say—saw—san 
san—sar—saw 
sar—san—say 
say—sar—san 
sar—saw—say 


Practice the following sentences faithfully both with the 
mirror and with your assistant; they cannot be practiced too 
much. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

What did you say? Say that over again. 

Please say that again. Say it more slowly. 

Have you seen Sargents’ pictures at the Museum? 

You must not use sarcasm. Sarcasm is a poor form of wit. 
We took a box of sardines with us on the picnic. 

Maine is noted for its good sardines. 

We saw some lovely pictures yesterday. 

She asked you if you saw the pictures. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


27 


I saw the boy fall down on the ice. 

We are going to the seashore to play in the sands. 

The sand is very white and fine. 

I am very fond of sandalwood. 

Remarks 

Be sure to have a good strong light upon your own lips when 
you practice alone, and stand or sit erect, with the mirror 
straight in front of you. Hold the chin up; it is impossible to 
see the motions of the lower lip if the chin is down. This is 
one reason why it is so difficult to understand a reader, for in 
reading from a book or paper the paper is necessarily held 
down below the face making the lips in shadow. 

Try to have your assistant repeat three or four sentences at a 
time without moving her position. It is very wearisome to the 
lip-reader to have the assistant looking down at the book and 
then up again for each sentence; much better for the assistant 
to take several sentences in her mind at once and to assume a 
natural position before she begins to say the lesson to you. Lip 
reading is such a matter of the subconscious mood that the least 
interruption will sometimes throw off the power of reading. 
Reading the lips is a little like placing yourself on a railroad 
train—you just let yourself go and read without effort under 
the right conditions. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

That is not safe. Don’t go there. 

Slow and sure is the safe way. 

Should you think that would be safe? 

There will be a cake sale at the Church next week. 
He was anxious to make a sale. 

The sails of the ship are all flying. 

Whittier wrote a poem called “My Psalm.” 



28 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


Longfellow also wrote a poem, calling it “A Psalm of Life.” 
They were chanting psalms all day Sunday. 

Saul was also among the prophets. 

Did you bring a satchel with you? 

We are told to remember the Sabbath day. 

She is very fond of sachet powder. 

She looks so sad. What can be the matter? 


THE STORY 

Among the familiar and oft-told tales of asylums is that of 
the fisherman who sat by a stream just outside the institution 
walls, his line in the water, his attitude one of contentment. 
The head of a patient bobbed up above the wall. “What are 
you doing ?” he asked. “Fishing.” “Caught anything ?” “No.” 
Plow long you been fishing?” “Bout two hours.” “Had any 
bites?” “No.” 

The man inside the grounds scratched his head. Then he 
motioned over the wall to the fisherman and said, “You come 
in here!” 


The following popular song has been introduced here as it 
teaches the days of the week and colloquial expressions besides 
having a good rhythm. 


THE SONG 
Sunday Night 

A popular lady, was little Miss Brady, 

Who worked in a candy store. 

She had so many beaux they were waiting in rows, 
Each evening her work was o’er. 




Lip Reading Made Easy 


29 


If they’d ask her to go, to a ball or a show, 

Or to come up home and call, 

She’d tell them they might come around Sunday night, 
And sing this refrain to them all. 

Refrain 

Monday night is working night 
Tuesday night’s the same. 

Wednesday night and Thursday night 
I’m on the job again; 

Friday night and Saturday night 
I’m busy as can be, 

So you’ll have to make it Sunday night 
If you call on me. 

One Sunday, Miss Brady, the popular lady, 

Went down to the shore to swim. 

She’d a figure so cute in her new bathing suit 
The ocean was glad she dropped in. 

As she strolled up the sand 
To the tune of the band, 

All the men were in her train; 

She’d jolly them all when they’d ask her to call. 

And sing them the same old refrain. 

By permission of Jerome B. Remick & Co., Music Publishers. 


LESSON IV 


Banking and Finance 

It is very necessary that deaf people should read numbers 
correctly. They need this knowledge wherever they go. Num¬ 
ber work is fine practice for lip reading and drill in this should 
continually be practiced. 

The figures 8, 9, and 10 are very much alike, also 18 and 19, 
and one must constantly be on his guard with them. If in 
doubt do not hesitate to ask for a repetition until you are 
absolutely sure. 

A little sacrifice of your pride in such a case may save you 
the loss of many dollars. 


Sentences for Practice 

I am going to the Bank to-day. 

To the First National Bank. 

To the Savings Bank. To the Cooperative Bank. 

I must get some money. I have to cash a check. 

How much do you need ? Perhaps I could cash it for you. 

I need Forty Dollars. Ten Dollars. A Hundred Dollars. 

I can’t let you have so much as that. 

How much have you ? What shall I do ? 

Can you lend me half a dollar ? 

Why, yes, to be sure I can. 

I wish I could, but I haven’t any cash to-day. 

I’m sorry. It’s too bad. Perhaps I could to-morrow. 

I want to deposit some money in the Savings Bank this 
morning. 

Don’t forget to take your book. 

No, I wont forget it. You must make out a slip. 

Don’t forget it. You must sign your name. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


31 


You must give your age and tell where you were born. 

I want to make a note. How long? Three months? 

You must see the Cashier. Can you give good security? 
Have you any collateral? That’s all right. 

Is that all you want? Shall I give you a check or cash? 
Here is the bill. Statement. Account. Receipt. 

Would it be convenient? If you please. 

What interest does that Bank pay now? 3 per cent? 5 per 
cent? 10 per cent? 


Higher Mathematics 

If I have 6 apples and give away 3 of them, how many have 
I left? Answer quickly. 

I have 4 boxes of candy and Mary gives me 2 more. How 
many boxes of candy have I? 

I had $5.00 in my pocket when I went to the store. When I 
came home I had only $1.00. How much had I spent? 

Four and four and four are how many? 

Twenty-five and thirty and ten and fifty are how many? 

Six and eight. How many? 

One hundred twenty-five and ten. How many? 

What is 5 per cent of $100? Five per cent of $500? 

Shall I draw a check for you? If you please, I wish you 
would. 

You must endorse the check when you deposit it. Of course, 
I know that. I should not forget to endorse it. Some peo¬ 
ple do. 

I want to get a certified check. 

What do you want it for ? 

I want it so I can send it away. 

I hope you will be careful not to overdraw your account. 

We ought to balance our bank account. I have to do it 
every month. 

Are all your checks in ? 


32 Lip Reading Made Easy 

Do you know where to place your name when you endorse a 
check ? 

You ought to place your name on the left-hand about an 
inch from the edge. You should not write it too near the edge. 
Why not? 

Because a dishonest person could cut it off. 


Mathematics 

One hundred fifty and six. How many ? 

My sister gave me twenty-five cents to buy postage stamps 
with. How many stamps could I buy? 

I could buy twenty-five one-cent stamps, or I could buy 
twelve two-cent stamps and a one-cent one. 

I bought a horse for fifty dollars and sold him for seventy- 
five dollars. Did I lose money or did I make money, and how 
much? 

+ 

Six handkerchiefs cost sixty cents. How much did one 
cost? How much did three cost? 

If I buy a bushel of potatoes for two dollars how much will 
a peck of potatoes cost? 

How much for half a bushel? 


Advertisements—Take From Dictation 

Note. —These advertisements are to be dictated to the class, 
and taken down with pencil and paper. 

Fenway—Business woman will rent room to woman: all 
privileges. $10. Congress 7066. 

Jamaica Plain—“The Elms,” 3 Revere Street. Desirable 




Lip Reading Made Easy 


33 


rooms with first-class table board; convenient to steam, ele¬ 
vated, and trolley cars. Jamaica 2728. 

A General Maid Wanted—Thoroughly experienced; family 
of 3 adults; no laundry. Tel. Dorchester 2530, Monday, 10 
to 12. 

Work of any kind wanted by strong, healthy American young 
man who is not afraid of labor. Best of references. Address 
J. T. D., Transcript. 


LESSON V 


The Letter “ R ” 

The phonetic sound of the letter “R” is produced at the back 
of the mouth and with a sideways movement of the lower jaw. 
In using the letter with a vowel, the lower lip moves a great 
deal so that this is one of the easiest letters to read. Pronounced 
alone it seems to be preceded by the vowel “E.” It may be 
made more emphatic by rolling it in the mouth and blowing a 
breath of air across the tongue. In some parts of the United 
States the “R” is made very emphatic, but in New England it 
is slipped over lightly. 

ray—rah—raw—ran 
ray—ran—ray—rah 
rah—raff—ran—ruff 
ran—ray—raw—ruff 
raw—ran—ray—ran 
ruff—ran—rah—raw 

The practice of these words corresponds to the five-finger 
exercises and scales which are of so much importance in learn¬ 
ing to play the piano. They should be faithfully practiced every 
day speaking each one emphatically. It will be found that this 
practice will also assist in enunciation which is very im¬ 
portant to anyone who is hard of hearing. Speak the words 
clearly and carefully and observe your lips. You will soon no¬ 
tice if you make a mistake in repeating the phrases. 

Sentences for Practice 

Did you see the horse race when you went to the fair? 

There are many people who belong to the colored race. 

I have often heard of automobile races, but I should not like 
to see them. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 35 

Railroads were introduced into this country about 1836. 


Some electric roads have a third rail. 

Lincoln is called the Rail Splitter. 

There is a bright ray of sunshine in the room. 

Did you ever read Raymonds’ advertisement in the Boston 
Post? 

The rays of sun drove away the clouds. 

The man raked the lawn all day. 

There is a picture called “The Rake’s Progress.” In the 
picture the young man is carrying a rake over his shoulder and 
making love to a pretty girl. 

What a beautiful rainbow! 

How many colors are there in the rainbow? 

A rainbow at night means fair weather. 

“The rain falls on the just 
And on the unjust feller, 

But mostly on the just, because 
The unjust has the just’s umbrella.” 

“Rain, rain, go away 
Come again another day.” 

I like to watch the rain on the window pane. 

All the people were shouting Hurrah. 

Hurrah for the Red, White and Blue. 

The roast beef was much too rare. 

Rare birds are found in Africa. 

He ran away very fast and the rat ran after him. 


36 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


She is too rash in her statements. 

What a rascal he is! 

Do you like wild raspberries ? 

He is too radical in his ideas. 

Raw meat is sometimes given to wild beasts. 

That was a raw deal. 

What a cold raw day. 

Have you bought a radio yet ? 

Can you hear with a radio ? 

She listened to the radio with a rapt expression. 

I went to see Rudolph Valentino as the Young Rajah. 

She was a raving beauty. 

I should enjoy going to the Rathskellar if you will take me. 
Let’s get some radishes. 

Look at the “glad rags” she has on. 

I wish I could go to Rome and see Raphael’s paintings. 
Raphael was one of the world’s greatest artists. 

Her face was radiant with joy. 

raw—race—railroad—ray—rake—rainbow—rain—rare— 
rash—rascal—radio—rapt—Rajah—raving—Rathskellar— 
radishes—rags—Raphael—radiant. 


THE STORY 

Aretemas Ward says that he knew a lady who went for a 
porous plaster and the druggist told her to place it on her trunk. 
Not having a trunk or a box in the house she put it on her band 
box and the next day reported that it was so powerful that it 
drew her pink bonnet all out of shape. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


37 


Ward said that Adam was snaked out of Eden. He said 
that Goliath was surprised when David hit him because such a 
thing never entered his head before. 

He said that some land out in Iowa was so rich that the 
farmer threw a cucumber seed as far as he could and started 
out on the run for his house. But the cucumber vine overtook 
him and he found a seed cucumber in his pocket. 

THE POEM 
The Days 

“Oh days that are coming up out of the mist, 

I am half afraid of you! 

What bring ye, hiding there under your cloaks ? 

Are ye many or are ye few? ” 

The days replied from under their cloaks, 

“Fear us not, whether many or few; 

For messengers from your Good Friend are we, 

And we bring His gifts to you.” 


LESSON VI 


The Letters D and T 


This lesson takes up the sound of the letters “D” and “T” 
combined with the four different sounds of the vowel “A.” In 
the sound of “D” and “T” the tongue has the leading part. The 
tip of the tongue is brought sharply up against the roof of the 
mouth, and the breath of air is blown from it. The teeth are 
quite wide apart and the lips open so that the motion of the 
tongue is plainly visible. 

Practice saying the “D” and “T” phonetically with no vowel 
at first, and watch the tongue as it falls. You will notice that 
the mouth opens more in saying “D” than in saying “T,” and 
the lower jaw falls much more. 

Also if you place the hand around the throat you will notice 
that the “D” has a grating sound in the throat while the “T” is 
wholly in the mouth. 


day—dar 
dar—duff 
dar—dan 
dau—day 
dar—dan 


day—dar—dan 
dan—dar—day 
dar—day—duff 
duff—dau—duff 
dan—dan—dan 


Day by day in every way I am growing better and better. 
Will you make a date with me? 

I saw date palms growing in California. 

I hope you are not afraid of the dark. 

Do help me darn these stockings. 

My mother taught me to darn everything. 

Dorothy told me to come right in without knocking. 

A good daughter looks after her mother. 

Dormer windows are much used on new houses. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


39 


What a dandy he is! 

Daniel went into the lions’ den but was not hurt by them. 
Daniel said: “My God has shut the mouth of the lions.” 

The Daylo is a well-known flashlight. 

Day dreams follow us when we least expect them. 

Day and night I am dreaming of you. 

She is such a darling girl. 

The day is cold and dark and dreary. 

The arrows dart back and forth very swiftly. 

Day—date—dark 
Daughter—Dorothy—dormer 
Dandy—Daniel—Daylo 
Daydreams—darling—dart 
Dawn—dance. 

Darn—daddy. 

There was a service on the hill top at Easter dawn. 

My daughter is going to do some shopping for me in Boston 
Like mother—like daughter. 

She just loves to dance. 

The engineers have built a large dam across the stream. 

My Daddy loves me, and I love my Daddy. 


THE STORY 

“Daddy, is to-day to-morrow ? ” queried Archie. 

“Why, of course it isn’t to-morrow,” answered his father. 
“But you said it was.” 

“When did I say to-day was to-morrow ? ” 

“Yesterday.” 

“Well, it was. To-day was to-morrow yesterday, but to¬ 
day is to-day to-day, just as yesterday was to-day yesterday, but 
is yesterday to-day, and to-morrow will be to-day to-morrow, 



40 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


which makes to-day yesterday and to-morrow at the same time.” 

Archie looked dazed and before he had recovered his speech 
father made good his escape. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

I will take care of you. Don’t be afraid. 

Take care of yourself. Be careful! 

Rabbits are usually very tame. 

Let’s have some tartar sauce with our fish. 

The gold of her chain is badly tarnished. 

Have you ever read any of Booth Tarkington’s stories? 
How tall are you? 

You are much taller than I am. 

Tall trees from little acorns grow. 

She is a great talker. 

Come and talk to me, now. 

What was she talking about? 

She can hear you all right if you talk to me. 

Don’t turn your back around when you are talking to me. 
You torture me when you do that. 

How tanned she is! 

My new cap is called a Tam O’Shanter. 

Robert Burns wrote a poem about Tam O’Shanter’s ride. 
The witches chased Tam until he crossed the bridge. 

My new dress is badly torn—it is in tatters. 

Some one is tapping on the door. 

The vine taps on the window pane. 

I am going to tack down the carpet, now. 

Tales of old times are always fascinating to me. 
Hawthorne wrote “Twice Told Tales.” 

Longfellow wrote “Tales of a Wayside Inn.” 

“Our days pass as a tale that is told.” 

Oh I am so tired—do take me home. 

Please take the cars when you go home. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


41 


Take up the box and leave it at the house. 

What is swearing? 

Is it swearing to say, “Damn it! ” to a chair? To a table? 
To a person? To an animal? 

The Poem 

'Daffy Down Dilly came up in the cold, 

Through the brown mold, 

What though the March breezes blew keen in her face ? 
What though the white snow lay in many a place? 

For Daffy Down Dilly had heard under ground 
The sweet rushing sound, 

Of the streams as they broke through their cold wintry chains 
Of the whistling winds and the pattering rains.” 

“Now then” thought Daffy deep down in her heart, 

“ Tis time I should start.” 

So she pushed her soft leaves 
Through the hard frozen ground 
Quite up to the surface, 

And then she looked round, 

So little by little she brought her leaves out, 

All clustered about, 

And then her bright flowers 
Began to unfold, 

Till Daffy stood robed 
In her spring green and gold. 

O Daffy-down dilly, so brave and so true! 

I wish all were like you! 

So ready for duty 
In all sorts of weather, 

And loyal to courage 
And duty together! 


Anna B. Warner. 


LESSON VII 


The Letter “ F” 

In repeating the sentences always wait until the whole sen¬ 
tence is spoken before starting to repeat it. Try to grasp it as 
a whole. Notice that the lips move from one word to another 
and do not go back to rest until the end of the phrase or sen¬ 
tence. If after hearing the sentence, you feel uncertain about 
one part of it, ask to have the whole repeated, and do not divide 
it up, except as a last resort. Sometimes the teacher may say: 
“How much of that did you hear? ” And then you can easily 
supply the missing part. 

The letter “F” is the easiest to read of all the alphabet. It 
takes the same position as “V” and “Ph” and the three are 
studied together. 

In “F” the upper teeth are clasped tightly over the lower lip 
and are always visible. When in combination with each vowel 
the lower lip falls away very noticeably. The air is blown out 
and there is a marked motion of the diaphragm which may be 
distinctly felt in producing the sound of “F.” “F” is the fa¬ 
vorite letter of all speech readers and will untangle many hard 
knots if often used. 

fay—far—for—fan—fay—fan 
far—fan—fay—fan—far—fay 
fan—fan—fay—fay—far—fan 
faff—fan—faff—fay—fay—faff 
fan—fave—far—faff—fay—fave 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Faint heart ne’er won fair lady. 

Do you feel faint? 

Are you faint? 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


43 


Are you afraid ? 

I am not afraid of him. 

I was afraid to go home. 

What are you afraid of? 

He awoke and found himself famous 

Famous men do not always know they are going to be 
famous. 

Fame is a fickle goddess. 

What a lovely face the child has. 

Her face was very pale. 

He will do anything to save his face. 

‘‘Fading still fading the last beam is shining.” 

The flowers are fading. Shall I throw them away? 

I think those colors will fade. I am afraid they are not fast. 

You must not fail me. 

He failed to catch the train this morning. 

There is no such word as fail to me. 

How do you pronounce the word “Pharaoh”? 

The Review Club will be studying about all the Pharoahs 
next year. 

A light house is sometimes called a Pharos. 

That dress must be faced. 

The facing is worn. 

She faced the future very calmly. 


THE POEM 

“A fair little girl sat under a tree 
And sewed just as long as her eyes could see; 
Then put up her work, and folded it right, 

And said, ‘Dear work, Good night, Good night! ’ 



44 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


She did not say to the sun ‘Good night! ’ 

Though she saw him there like a ball of light. 

She knew he had God’s time to keep, 

All over the world and never could sleep. 

The horses neighed, and the oxen lowed. 

The sheeps’ bleat-bleat came over the road; 

And good little Lucy tied up her hair 
And said on her knees her evening prayer. 

And when on her pillow she softly lay 
She knew no more till again it was day 
And all things said to the beautiful sun, 

‘ Good morning! Good morning! Our work has begun!’ ” 

Lord Houghton. 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

I met my fate yesterday. He was very handsome. 

The fates fight with me. 

The three Fates were named: Clotho, the Spinner; Lechesis 
holder of the lots; and Atropos, the end of all. 

This is my favorite flower. 

“Loving favor is better than silver and gold.” 

Will you favor me this evening? It gives me pleasure. 

I am afraid this is a fake proposition. 

We must be on our guard against fakirs. 

Fakirs follow circuses they say. 

We are going out to the farm to-day. 

Father will go with us. 

This is a fine farming country. 

What a farce that is. 

I like to see a good farce on the stage. 

That is far from my thoughts. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 45 

I went to see the stained glass window by La Farge at Trinity 
Church. 

La Farge was a great artist. 

La Farge’s son is also noted. 

“A haughty spirit goes before a fall/' 

I am afraid you will fall. 

He will fall off his wheel if he is not careful. 

Autumn is called the fall of the year. 

Have you seen the water fall at the Cambridge Reservoir? 
Do you ever go to Upper Falls or to Lower Falls ? 

She is a fortunate girl. 

He has made a fortune this year. 

How fortunate that is! 

It was her fault. 

It was no fault of mine. Your own fault. 

I do not like the form of your sentence. 

The Greeks sought for beauty of form rather than face. 
Wouldn’t you like to borrow my dress form ? 

•He wore a handsome fob on his watch. 

A dandy is sometimes called a fop. 

I lost my fob yesterday. 

The horses must have their fodder. 

He went out to fodder the cattle. 

Oh what a thick fog. 

The ships will find it foggy. 

The fog will hinder their sailing to-day. 

Shall I give you a fork ? 

Have you a fork and knife ? 

Fingers were made before forks. 


46 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


I saw a mother deer with her fawn. 

Pine forests cover all the hills. 

The dog came and fawned upon him. 

“For me and you, good friend, for me and you. 

They fought for me and you. ,, 

My fan is badly broken. 

What a comfort an electric fan is. 

Please fan me a little. 

That is all your fancy. 

I don’t fancy it. 

Just fancy my doing that! 

Please tell me all the facts. 

Do you tell me that for a fact? 

Facts are stubborn things. 

The story is too fantastic. 

It is only phantasm. 

I call it phantasmagorical. 

What a peculiar fad! It will soon pass. 

What will be the next fad? 

He is very fastidious. 

I am just famished. 

There is much suffering in Europe from famine. 
Famine drives people from their homes. 

She had a very large family. 

Families are known by their names. 

He had a large family tree and was very proud of it. 

The china is very frail. 

Frail as the flower that perishes. 

I was almost frantic. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 
Self Reliance 


4 7 


Written by a Japanese student 

I have my hands to work 

Which my mother brought them up, 

They are my only reliance, 

Whatever may it be 
I fear not! 

I have my feet to walk, 

Which my father strengthened them, 
They are my only stand point, 
Whatever may it be 
I evade not! 

I have my mind to think 
Which my Lord gifted me. 

This is my only guidance, 

Whatever may it be 
I stray not! 


LESSON VIII 


Illness in the Family 

A good nurse is a good nurse whether hard of hearing or not, 
and deaf people may sometimes be ill. While it might be dan¬ 
gerous for one who is totally deaf to be alone with a very ill 
patient there are times when a good lip reader might be the best 
nurse in the world. 

The patient might be unable to make a sound, as is often 
the case, but the slightest movement of the lips can be de¬ 
tected by a lip reader, and this might sometimes be the means 
of saving a life. 

The following sentences are some of those which would 
commonly be used in the sick room. These also apply to a 
hard-of-hearing patient who can read the lips: 

. SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

How do you feel now? Do you feel any better to-day? 

Is your pain gone? How does your head feel? 

I feel very sick. Don’t you want something? 

Is there anything I can do for you? 

Can’t I get you something? I should like a drink of water. 

I am so weak. Shall I raise you up a little? 

Yes, if you please. That’s just right. Water. 

Water, please. Medicine. 

Give me my medicine. Is that water hot? 

Hot water. Cold water. 

Not too hot. Please get me a glass of milk, now. 

Right off. Don’t wait. 

You are too slow. I am cold. 

I feel chilly. O, I am so uncomfortable. 

Don’t you see how I am shivering ? 

I must have a hot water bag. Right away. 

I don’t want to wait. I can’t wait any longer. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


49 


Take my temperature. What is it? 

It is all right. Don’t say that. 

Don’t do that. Where is my handkerchief ? 

Give me my comb and brush and toothbrush. 

Where’s the towel? I want to make up your bed now. 

I want to get up. I don’t want to get up. 

I want to go to bed. I am tired. 

Don’t talk to me. Don’t make so much noise. 

Don’t hit the bed. Don’t move the chairs. 

Put the curtain down. Shut the door. 

Don’t go away. Where’s Mother? 

Tell her I want her. Come and sit down. 

Sit where I can see you. Where are you going? 

I can’t see you. I can’t hear you. 

Speak louder. Be quiet. 

Now you must go to sleep. What is the matter with me? 
You are very sick. 

The Doctor does not know whether you will get well or not. 
He will do all he can for you. He is very good. 

I know it. I think you are going to get better. 

Very soon. What is that noise? 

You woke me up. 

That’s too bad. I’m sorry. 

I’m so sorry for you. I don’t want to see anybody. 

No, indeed. You shall not see anybody if you don’t want to. 


THE STORY 

Extract from a letter to a newspaper correspondent: 

Dear Otto: Please tell me is it unlucky to get married on 
Friday the thirteenth? 

Answer: Just as much as any other day. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 
It’s time for your medicine. I don’t want it. 




50 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


Take it away. Fm not going to take it. 

I won’t take it. What shall I do with it? 

I don’t care. Are vour feet warm? 

No, they are very cold. 

Can’t I fix your pillows a little better? 

You are going to sit up to-day. How do you know? 

Doctor said so. I am glad to hear it. 

How good you are! You have been so kind. 

You are a great deal better already. 

You’ll be going down stairs pretty soon. What’s the matter? 
What are you going to do ? 

Many thanks for all you have done. 

I never saw such a good patient. 


DIRGE 

To the memory of Miss Ellen Gee, of Kew, who died in consequence of 
being stung in the eye. 

Peerless, yet hapless maid of Q! 

Accomplished LN G! 

Never again shall I and U 
Together sip our T. 

For, ah! the Fates I know not Y, 

Sent ’midst the flowers a B, 

Which venomous stung her in the I, 

So that she could not C. 

LN exclaimed, "Vile, spiteful B! 

If ever I catch U 
On jess’mine, rosebud, or sweet P, 

I’ll change your singing Q. 

I’ll send you like a lamb or U 
Across the Atlantic C, 

From our delightful village Q 
To distant O Y E. 

A stream runs from my wounded I, 

Salt as the briny C, 

As rapid as the X or Y, 

The OIO or D. 

* Then fare thee ill, insistent B! 

Who stung, nor yet knew Y, 

Since not for wealthy Durham’s C 
Would I have lost my I.” 

They bear with tears fair LN G 
In funeral R. A, 

A clay-cold corpse now doomed to B 
While I mourn her DK. 


Anon. 



LESSON IX 


The Letter “ N ” 


The sounds of “N,” “Gn,” and “Kn” are the same, and pho¬ 
netically their sounds are quite similar to those of “D” and “T.” 
In reading these letters by the lips we find that they are identi¬ 
cal, as the tip of the tongue is brought up against the roof of 
the mouth and the mouth is open. It is only by the connection 
that these letters may be distinguished. Practice the short words 
faithfully, also the words which are used in the sentences. 
Place the left hand around the throat and notice the different 
sounds produced by each of these. Notice also how much more 
the lower jaw falls in using the “D” words than with “T” or 
“N.” 


nay—nar 
nar—nay 
nay—nuff 
nar—nan 
nan—nuff 


nar—nan—nay—nan 
nay—nan—nar—nuff 
nan—nar—nuff—nay 
nar—nay—nan—nuff 
nuff—nay—nan—nan 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

We have very pleasant neighbors. 

Be careful or the neighbors will hear you. 

Who is my neighbor? 

For want of a nail a battle was lost. 

The horses neigh for their supper. 

“Nay, nay, and yea, yea. 

That is what the Quakers say.” 

What is your name? 

Please tell me the name again. 

Names trouble deaf people very much. 

The American nation is very powerful. 


52 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


THE POEM 

“This is our own, our native land 
Tho’ poor and rough she be, 

The home of many a noble soul 
The birthplace of the free. 

We’ll love her rocks and rivers 
Till Death our quick blood chills. 
Hurrah, for Old New England 
And her cloud-capped granite hills.” 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

You must take a nap to-day. 

I had a long nap this afternoon. 

My old horse is a good old nag. 

That lace is too narrow. 

It should not be so narrow. 

What natural beauty there is in this place. 

Those flowers are so natural. 

I did not think they could be artificial. 

Don’t be narrow-minded. 

I shall have to buy some naphtha before long. 

Have you a napkin? 

Paper napkins are very cheap and useful. 

Are you fond of nasturtiums? 

Suggestions 

The teacher should never give the key word to any sentence. 
It takes just as much time to read the key word as it would to 
read the whole sentence, and in real life no one can stop to 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


53 


give you such a thing. If people would tell you what they 
were going to talk about, it certainly would be a help, but they 
will seldom do that or confine themselves to that one subject. 
Conversation drifts here and there and we must be prepared to 
follow it. 

Deaf people are so apt to guess what is said, that if a key 
word is given they think they know the whole thing, and are 
more than likely to guess wrong. When they do so, it requires 
much effort on the part of their friends, to set them right. 
There is no guess work about good lip reading. If you know 
the words you will recognize them and they become like old and 
true friends—always the same. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

“It is naught, it is naught saith the buyer.” 

How can you be so naughty? 

Boys are usually the naughty ones, but girls can be naughty 
too. 

The paper narcissus is most beautiful in the early spring. 
Narcotics are prohibited by very severe laws. 

I am going to the natatorium for a swim. 

The trunk of the tree is gnarled. 

Just look at the way the dog gnaws that bone. 

He was so angry he gnashed his teeth. 

Mosquitoes are only small gnats. 

N a p—neighbor—nag—narrow—natural—narrow¬ 
mindedness—naphtha—napkin—nasturtiums—nail—neigh 
nay—name—nation—native 

naught—naughty—nausea—narcissus—narcotics— 
natatorium—gnarled—gnash—gnats. 



54 


Lip Reading Made Easy 

A College Song 

(Note. This song was selected for its use of honophonous 
words.) 

A man and a maid went a-rowing 
Out on the river one day. 

The man made love to the maiden 
While the oars floated softly away. 

So there they were left on the river 
Wat’ry tears filled their little canoe. 

Then they both started to boo-hoo, 

Down by the river side. 

Chorus 

Down by the river side. Down by the river side. 

He sighed and she sighed, 

And then they sighed, side by side, 

Down by the river side. 


“II faut dans ce has monde aimer beaucoup de choses, pour 
savoir apres tout ce qu’on aime le mieux” 



LESSON X 


Literature 
Sentences for Practice 

What are you reading? I am reading a very good book. 

It is a new book. Where did you get that book ? 

Some one lent it to me. I borrowed it. 

Did you get it from the Library? Yes, I did. 

Who is it by? Who wrote it? Who is the author? 

You are lucky to get it now. 

Have you finished your book ? Did it take you very long ? 

I have had it a week, already. 

It is slow reading but I enjoy it very much. 

Where is the scene of the plot laid? In America? Europe? 
Is it a love story? Is it a pretty story? Interesting? 

It is a detective story and it is very interesting. 

It is awfully exciting. I don’t like it. 

I wish I hadn’t read it. I don’t like the people in it. 

I am reading a great many magazines lately. 

Which magazines do you have? We take Good Housekeep¬ 
ing. 

Do you ever read the American? The Atlantic? The Cen¬ 
tury? 

When you get through with it please let me take it. 

I want to read it sometime. No hurry. Anytime. Tomor¬ 
row. 

Do you read a great deal? I don’t have much time to read. 
What do you do with yourself all the time? 

We have the papers; they take a lot of time every day. 

What paper is that you are reading ? I have the Globe. 

What part of the Globe do you like best? 

Do you read the housekeeping notes? 

I read the Hotel Stenographer and Dorothy Dix every night. 


56 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


What part of the Herald do you read first ? Is it reliable ? 
Do you ever read Whiting? Otto Grow? Do you know 
Mrs. May Grow? 

Do you know Uncle Shelley Grow? And the twins? 

It is a wonderful family. 

I like some fun in a paper, don’t you ? 


This is one of Whiting’s stories: 

One of the patients in an asylum imagined himself to be 
Julius Caesar. One morning, when someone said to him, “Good 
morning, Caesar,” he drew himself up to his full height and 
said, “Sir, you are in error. I am Napoleon.” 

“O, I beg your pardon for the mistake. As I recalled meet¬ 
ing you a few days ago I thought you were Caesar.” 

“To be sure,” he said with an agreeable smile. “But that 
was by my first wife.” 


THE POEM 

’Tis a long time to come, I remember it well— 

Alone in the poorhouse a maiden did dwell; 

She dwelt with her father and mother serene 
Her age it was red, and her hair was nineteen. 

This maid had a lover who near by did dwell; 

He was cross-eyed in both feet and crooked as well; 
Said he, “Fly with me, by the light of yon star, 

For you are the eye of my apple, you are.” 

“Oh, no,” said the maiden, “I pray you be wise; 

My father would scratch out your nails with his eyes; 
If you love me you will not bring me to disgrace,” 
Said the maid; as she buried her hands in her face. 




Lip Reading Made Easy 


5 7 


And so she refused him, this hard-hearted maid, 

And quickly he opened the knife of his blade,— 

He soon cut the throat of the maiden so fair 
And dragged her about by the head of her hair. 

But just at this moment her father appears,— 

He gazed on his daughter, with his eyes in his tears; 

He knelt down beside her, her pale face he kissed, 

Then rushed with his throat at the murderer’s fist. 

The father then ordered this villain to bolt; 

He drew his horse pistol—’twas raised from a Colt; 

The murderer ran to the chimney, ’tis true: 

And said, “I will fly,” as he flew up the flue. 

THE STORY 

Otto Grow says he is going to write a new book. The title 
of the book is going to be “Intimate Facts not generally known 
about President Calvin Coolidge.” 

These are some of the things which he has discovered: 

“After painstakin’ research I am able to give out these here¬ 
tofore unknown facts about Calvin Coolidge— 

Uses a brush and comb on his hair regularly. 

Sits down at his meals. 

Uses a pen when writing. 

Also uses impregnated safety matches. 

Wears two shoes at a time—a right and a left. 

Looks at his watch when he wishes to know the time. 
Does not ride a bicycle. 

Wears starched collar and four-in-hand tie. 

Covers face with lather before shaving. 

Carries an umbrella on rainy days.” 


The Otto Grow referred to in this lesson is the well-known 



58 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


writer, Mr. Franklin Collier, who is a contributor to the Boston 
Herald. He has a large imaginary family who all have re¬ 
ceived names which make puns, such as Otto Grow, May 
Grow, Uncle Shelly Grow, and there are two wonderful twins, 
called Dewey Grow and Wanna Grow. Otto’s father is 
Howland Grow, Esq. His mother is Lena Grow. His wife, 
Mrs. May Grow, was formerly Miss May B. Biggar. There 
are three other children in this family besides the twins, and 
their names are Willie Grow, Kenny Grow and Letta Grow. 
Mrs. Grow’s mother’s name is Mrs. Lots Biggar, and the dog 
in the family is Barker Grow. 

—By Permission. 


Mr. Edward E. Whiting is also one of the leading contribut¬ 
ors to the Herald. The following is a sample of his finest style, 
and this may well be used to teach lip reading. Its sentences are 
short, its words are familiar, and the noble thought appeals to 
everyone. 

“To-day is Memorial Day. To-day we decorate the graves of 
those we call dead. Particularly we decorate the graves of those 
who died in war; or who, serving in defence of their country, 
have since passed from this life. The day is consecrated to these 
men. To the men who died that the Union might live, intact 
and whole. To the men who died in the cause of Cuban free¬ 
dom. To the men who died that democracy might be secure. 
By placing flowers upon their graves to-day we seek to show 
that respect and to symbolize that loving memory without which 
humanity fails of its purpose.’’ 

—By Permission. 



LESSON XI 


The Letter “ H ” 

In sounding the letter “ H ” we find the lips always half 
opened and the teeth apart. The tongue is plainly seen lying 
flat along the lower part of the mouth and the breath is blown 
out distinctly. Practice these short words faithfully and notice 
how the sound is produced. 

hay—har—haw—han 
han—haw—hay—haff 
han—hay—har—haw 
haff—han—haw—han 
hay—har—haff—han 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Envy and hate go together. 

We are told to hate the sin but love the sinner. 

I should hate to see you do that. 

I think it will not harm you. We must have harmony in our 
family. 

The medicine was harmful to him. 

Do you enjoy hearing the harp? 

The harp is a beautiful instrument, and the music of the 
harp is very sweet. 

The most beautiful music in the world is the harp, violin, and 
organ. 

Hades is known as the abode of the dead. 

Did you ever read a book for children called “Haidee”? 

Haidee was a little Swiss girl. 

That word is too hard for me, I can’t read half of that. 

He was my half brother. 

The wife is sometimes called “The better half.” 


60 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


They are expecting a great harvest this year. 

‘‘My heart’s in the Highlands wherever I go.” 

The heart is a wonderful organ. It is the strongest pump 
in the world. 

The hail stones were as large as hen’s eggs. 

What a hailstorm we had. 

He was a hale and hearty old man. 

He was in great haste. I could not stop him. 

“Haste makes waste.” 

Waste makes want. 

Want makes strife. 

Between man and his wife.” 

We should not be too hasty in our judgments. 

I know a girl named Hazel. 

The witch hazel has a small yellow flower. 

The air is very hazy over all the mountains. 

Hazing is forbidden at most colleges. 

Make hay while the sun shines. 

Let’s go out and play in the hay. 

Do you like the fragrance of new mown hay? 

The hay cocks look so pretty out there in the moon light. 

“Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, 

Into the valley of death rode the six hundred. 

Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, 
Theirs but to do and die. 

All in the Valley of Death rode the six hundred.” 

Her welcome was very hearty. 

Oh, what a heartless creature you are. 

Cold hands warm heart. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


61 


She is very haughty in her manner. 

“A haughty spirit goes before a fall.” 

We have a hawthorn tree in our yard. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne planted a hawthorn hedge around his 
house in Concord. 

How happy everyone looks to-day. 

Happiness follows well doing. 

“That one is happiest who has the most interesting thoughts.” 

Shall we have some ham to-day? 

Yes, we will have ham and eggs. 

I will bring the lunch to the picnic in a hamper. 

The Esquimaux have many curious habits. 

We should make ourselves free from the slavery of habit. 
He had a very bad habit of using tobacco. 

My hand is free to move as I choose. 

Did you have a good hand at whist? 

How handy you are with your needle. 

I went to my room to hang up my dress. 

Your dress does not hang right. 

He had a rather hang dog look. I was afraid of him. 

How did it happen? 

I don’t know how it happened. 

Strange things happen sometimes. 

Words used in this lesson: 

hate—harm—harp—Hades—hard—harvest 
hail—haste—hasty—hazy—hay—half 
hearty—heart—haughty—happy—have—ham 
hamper—habit—hand—hang—happen 


62 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


THE STORY 

A friend of a friend of mine went over when the war broke 
out as a captain. He secured his majority and was assigned to 
the command of a battalion of negro stevedores at Brest on the 
French coast. Among his men was a black giant from Ala¬ 
bama, densely ignorant, infinitely happy, and the hardest worker 
among all the hundreds of stevedores who labored there, hand¬ 
ling supplies for the A. E. F. 

The big darky’s notions of military courtesy, and of such 
an intricate thing as military rank, were so vague as practically 
to be nonexistent. To him a sergeant was the embodiment of 
supreme power—as high a note as he could sound on the Army 
scale. 

All the same, his never-failing good humor, and his willing¬ 
ness to take on any task, no matter how disagreeable or labori¬ 
ous, made him a favorite, and his white officers were disin¬ 
clined to discipline him, in spite of daily breaches of etiquette 
on his part. 

One day the battalion commander gave him a direct order 
to perform some job or other. He grinned amiably, and 
answered: 

“All right, Sa’gent, I’ll sho’ ’tend to it right away.” 

“Look here!” snapped the officer with assumed severity, 
“haven’t you learned yet how to address me? I want you to 
understand that I’m a major, and must be spoken to as such.” 

“Law’s sake! Is dat so?” said the darky, showing all his 
teeth in a friendly smile. “Well, anyways, you suttinly is one 
mighty nice young fella, an’ I hope they meks you a sa’gent 
soon.” 


LESSON XII 


The student who has proceeded thus far in the study of 
lip reading should be prepared to follow ordinary short stories 
by taking each phrase slowly and repeating it once or twice. It 
has been said previously that all the reading matter in this book 
is intended for practice; not one paragraph should be omitted, 
and it is well to go over each lesson many times. 

The Story (told by Mrs. Myers of Philadelphia:) 

The Only Thing That Did Not Fade 

There is a story that once an angel came down from Heaven 
to earth. He wished to find something which would remain 
just as beautiful in Heaven as it had been on the earth. 

As he went about seeking, he found it almost impossible to 
find anything which would not change. 

After a long time he came to a lovely garden, and there he 
saw a beautiful white Easter lily. The lily was so pure and 
sweet he thought it would surely be worthy of Heaven, so he 
gathered the lily and took it in his arms and carried it with 
him. Then as he passed along through the garden he saw a 
little baby sleeping in its cradle, and while he continued to gaze 
at the child, the baby smiled. The angel said to himself that 
here was something almost too beautiful for earth which 
well might be given room in Heaven, for nothing could be 
sweeter than the smile of an innocent little baby; and he took 
the baby’s smile with him. 

Farther on he saw a mother soothing her sick child to rest, 
with all the patient love which only a mother can give. Her 
love was so tender and devoted that the angel stooped and took 
the mother-love in his arms; and so went on his way. 

But when he reached Heaven, he found that the lily was no 
longer beautiful—it was crushed and faded. He found that 
the baby’s smile had disappeared. But the mother-love which 


64 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


was so strong, had endured even from earth to Heaven and 
would never be less; and he found that the only thing which 
would never fade was Mother-Love. 


A poem from an old Sampler: 

“ Spring must pass, life must fade 
No second Spring to know 
Virtue alone Celestial maid 
Can bloom Eternal here below. ,, 

Note. —In studying the above it is well to draw out the class, 
asking such questions as:— 

Why is Eternal a capital letter? 

Why is Celestial a capital ? 

What does it mean about “no second Spring”? 

Does the word “Celestial” apply to “Virtue” or to the little 
girl who made the Sampler? 

Note. —After giving the above story and poem, a debate 
might be held upon the question, “What can deaf people do to 
make it easier for their hearing friends?” Pencils and paper 
should be distributed and the answers read by the leader of the 
class and time allowed for discussion. In the last part of this 
book some suggestions on this topic and also as to how deaf 
people may protect themselves, will be found. 



LESSON XIII 


Colloquial Phrases 

In the study of the English language, for the purpose of read¬ 
ing the lips, it is necessary to obtain a working vocabulary as 
soon as possible. Words which are familiar and are frequently 
used should be learned at once. Common phrases, the use of 
numerals, every-day expressions, especially those used in the 
family and the home are very easily acquired and in this book 
they have received special attention. When someone says “Good 
Morning” to us we ought to be able to read the phrase with¬ 
out any trouble but it is too true that many individuals have 
studied lip reading and have been able to read many difficult 
words and phrases, yet made a very poor appearance in society 
because they had not learned these simple useful expressions. 

The sentences are arranged for use at home at first, for table 
manners and courtesies, for illness, for use with tradespeople, 
and for shopping and visiting. 

It will be noticed that many isolated words are inserted; 
these are intended to be used in various ways to make more 
sentences and conversations. The object is to make the student 
prepared to understand what would usually be said under cer¬ 
tain circumstances. Slang phrases have also been used and 
sometimes language which is colloquial and in common use al¬ 
though not strictly grammatical. 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

THE CITY 

I’m goin’ to the movies. You mean to the motion pictures? 

The same. Sure. Of course. How stupid you are! 

Don’t you know that? Well, I do. 

Won’t you go along? Yes indeed, I love to go. 

Movies were invented for deaf people, didn’t you know it? 


66 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


We can enjoy them without any trouble. 

I will get the tickets. No, I’ll get them. 

You can’t get them. Why can’t I? 

You won’t know what they say at the box office. 

Just let me try and see. 

Two tickets, please. How many did you say? 

What is the price? How much? How much are they? 

All same price. Price list up there. Twenty-five cents. 

All right. Balcony. This way. Up stairs. 

Dressing room down stairs. One flight up. 

What a good show! Did you enjoy it? Indeed I did. 

It was immense. What a lovely playhouse this is! 

It is a pleasure to come with you. 

Oh, cut that out! Now you’re shouting! 

That gets me! Nothin’ doin’. I like that. 

That gets my goat! Isn’t it fine? 

Let me help you. Shall I take your coat? Allow me. 

PROVERBS 
Fine feathers make fine birds finer. 

Whether the jug hits the stone, or the stone hits the jug, it’s 
a bad thing for the jug. 

Welcome ever smiles, but farewell goes out sighing. 

If you wish to have the fruit, you must learn to climb the tree. 
Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, 
the past life, and the neglected opportunity. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

FAMILY LIFE 

Breakfast is ready. Are you ready for breakfast? 
All ready. Not quite. He will be down soon? 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


67 


How long will it be, do you think. About fifteen minutes. 
Please come to breakfast now. We are late. 

What time do you have breakfast? We have it when we 
are ready. 

At seven o’clock. At eight sharp. A little before eight. 

This is good coffee. Did you make this coffee yourself? 
How did you make it? However you made it, it is delicious. 
This coffee is poor. I can’t drink it. 

Would you like some toast this morning? Will you have dry 
toast ? 

The toast is burned again. What a shame that is. 

It’s too bad. I’ll make some more right away. 

O, thank you so much. You are too kind. 

How many eggs will you have ? One if you please. 

I like them any way. Hard or soft. Fried eggs. 

Boiled eggs. Poached eggs or scrambled. 

A very nice breakfast. Thank you so much. 

Good morning. 

Deaf people are apt to shrink from hearing unpleasant things; 
they are able to close their eyes and ears and avoid what they 
do not wish to hear. But when the eyes are opened by a 
thorough knowledge of lip-reading they should be able to read 
every single word whatever its meaning. If it is human lan¬ 
guage they must be ready to read it. 

THE POEM 

“I am only one 
But I am one. 

I cannot do everything 
But I can do something. 

And what I can do 
By the grace of God 
I will do.” 

—From the German. 


LESSON XIV 


The Letter “L” 

We now come to the letter “ L.” This is.one of the easiest 
letters to read, ranking with “ F ” and “ R,” which we have 
studied. The tongue is used very noticeably in producing the 
phonetic sound of “ L.” Place the hand upon the throat and 
listen to the sound you make when you say “lull—lull—lull.” 
Take the following words and practice in all the different combi¬ 
nations you can think of: 

lay—lar—law—lan 
lar—lan—lay—law 
law—lan—lan—lay 
» lay—law—lan—lar 

lar—lay—lar—lan 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

“I will lay me down to sleep 
And take my rest.” 

Please lay out a good plan for me. 

Our little hen lays many eggs. 

He was sentenced to six months of hard labor. 

Six days shalt thou labor. 

There is a strong labor party in Massachusetts. 

Do lace my shoes for me. 

Which do you like best, laced boots or buttoned ones? 
Her collar was made of- real lace. 

What a lady she is. 

All the ladies are out in their best clothes for Easter. 
“Lady bird, Lady bird, Fly away home, 

Your house is on fire and your children will burn.” 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


69 


Do you know the pink Lady’s Slipper ? 

The hens have laid ever so many eggs to-day. 

I laid a package on your desk to-day for you. 

Cape Cod is full of fresh water lakes. 

Do you prefer a lake to the sea-shore? 

Crimson lake is a beautiful color. 

The man is so lame that he has to walk slowly. 

They say the lame and the lazy are always provided for, but 
I have not found it so. 

It is a long lane that has no turning. 

There is a walk over by the river called Lover’s Lane. 
Nothing is prettier than a shady lane. 

You will be too late if you are not careful. 

Sometimes it is “better late than never,” but not always. 

“Late, late, so late and dark the night and chill 
Late, late, so late but we may enter still. 

Too late, Too late, Ye can not enter now. 

No light had we for which we do repent, 

But knowing this the bridegroom will relent. 

Too late, too late, Ye cannot enter now.” 


Do not attempt the impossible. Do not try to hear every 
word that is said. Bear in mind that a great deal is said which 
is not worth hearing, much less repeating. You will find that 
when you hear less, you will remember more. Many times when 
we ask our friends to repeat what was said at a sermon or a lec¬ 
ture they will not be able to remember one word or a single 
idea. The speaker’s words have passed through their minds 
leaving no impression, but this is not true of a deaf person. 
Whatever he hears he retains. 



70 Lip Reading Made Easy 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Why do you laugh so hard? 

She laughs herself sick over it. 

“Laugh and grow fat.” That is very laughable. 

There was a soft sound of gay laughter. 

They were going to see the ship launched yesterday. 
The enterprise is well launched. 

Do you have a good laundry? 

Do they launder your clothes well ? 

My laundry loses something for me nearly every week. 

I think he is a good lawyer. 

The lawyer will be ready to plead cases soon. 

The law is very aggravating. 

Long and hard were the lessons we had to learn. 


THE PROVERB 

“Lose an hour in the morning, and you may search for it all 
the day and never find it.” 


You will notice that we often use the vowels “O” and “A” 
as interchangeable. They are so much alike, it has been 
thought wise to put them together. The “A” as in “all” looks 
just the same as “O” in long and as “au” in launder, and in 
learning one we learn all three. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

The victor was crowned with laurel wreaths. 
They have a laurel chain at Mt. Holyoke College. 
The laurel is very hard to transplant. 





Lip Reading Made Easy 


71 


“Back to the land.” 

Did you land the fish. 

He had many acres of rich land on his farm. 

They are in need of everything. Everything is lacking. 
The coat lacks buttons. 

What a fine little lad he is. 

President Harding had a dog called Laddie Boy. 

My lad is a brave fellow. 

Will you have lamb for dinner. 

Do you serve lamb with mint sauce. 

Let me have two pounds of lamb chops. 

The light of the lamp is dim. 

You must fill the lamp. 

The lamp has a pretty shade. 

The dog likes to lap me with his tongue. 

The little boy sits in his mother’s lap. 

A long time elapsed. 

That would be called a lapse of the tongue. 


THE POEM 

One Touch of Nature 

A lark’s song dropped from Heaven. 

A rose’s breath at noon. 

A still sweet stream that flows and flows, 
Beneath a still sweet moon. 

A little wayside flower 
Plucked from the grasses thus 
A sound—a breath, a glance—and yet 
What is it they bring to us ? 



72 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


For the world grows far too wise 
And wisdom is but grief 
Much thought makes but a weary way 
And question unbelief. 

Thank God for the bird’s song. 

And for the flower’s breath, 

Thank God for any voice to wake 
The old sweet hymn of faith. 

For a world grown all too wise 
(Or is it not wise enough) ? 

Thank God for anything that makes 
The path less dark and rough. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

What a long lash that whip has! 

He lashed his horse very wickedly. 

He ought to be lashed himself. 

This is the last time I will go. 

The perfume is very lasting. 

Every shoemaker should stick to his last. 

She likes to wear lavender. 

The artist is lavish with colors. 

She lavishes kisses on her child. 

I saw she was alarmed about it 
Don’t be alarmed, don’t be frightened. 

There is no cause for alarm. 

Words Emphasized in This Lesson 

lay—lady—lace—labor—laid—lakes—lame 
lane—late—laugh—launch—laundry—lawyer 
long—learn—laurel—land—lack—lacking 
lamb—lamp—lap—lapse—lash—last—1 ad 
lavish—lark—alarm—lavender 



LESSON XV 

Conversation 

It is interesting to keep a record, for a short time, of all the 
phrases which one reads from the lips in passing. One instance 
which was thrilling was when three ladies were standing in 
front of an alley-way in a very crowded city. A heavy truck 
drove up, and the driver said something to them which they 
could not possibly hear. But one of the ladies was a lip- 
reader and she repeated what he said which was, “Look out 
there, ladies. Fm going to drive in.” 

In the play of the “Ne’er Do Well,” by Thos. Meighan, when 
the hero and heroine were at a dinner party, sitting far away 
from each other, the heroine said to him with her lips, “I love 
you,” and he repeated it in the best lip-reading fashion. It was 
so very plain to a lip reader that one would wonder that every¬ 
one could not read it. “I love you! ” 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

CONVERSATION IN THE FAMILY 

Is it going to rain ? Do you think it is going to rain ? 
Perhaps it will. What did you say ? 

What do you think ? It is raining. It’s raining very hard. 

I thought it was going to rain. Are you going out? 

Shall I take my umbrella ? Shall I need my raincoat ? 

You better take it with you. I don’t want to wear my rubbers. 
I suppose I ought to wear them. 

You will get wet if you don’t look out. April showers. 
April weather. It won’t be your fault. It won’t be my fault. 
Don’t look so worried. Does something trouble you? 

Do you feel well this morning? Did you have a good night? 
Did you sleep well ? I thought you looked a little pale. 

How the wind blows. I hate this wind. 

The wind blows awfully. It blew me all to pieces. 



74 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


It is going to be warm to-day. O, how hot it is! 

It is nice and cool in the house. 

The sun is very warm. We had a beautiful sunset. 

Has the paper come ? Please look and see. 

It hasn’t come yet. When will it be here? It is here. 

Not yet. Very soon. Mother is reading it. 

She brought it in. Shall I bring it in? I wish you would. 

I should be glad to have you. I want to see what the news is. 
Let’s have breakfast now. It’s all ready. Please come now. 
Breakfast is ready. Dinner is served. 

Are we all ready for dinner? Don’t you ask the blessing? 

I would like to have you, please. There’s the bell for dinner. 
We must go right down. Please be seated. 

This place is for you. Over there. Will you have soup? 
Will you have a glass of water? Yes, please. 

Will you have an egg this morning? One or two, which? 
How many will you take. Shall I boil an egg for you? 

How long shall I boil them? Two minutes? Three minutes? 
Good-bye! I’ve got to run for the train. 

This toast is very nice. How good you are to make it for me. 
Sometimes I burn it. What makes you burn it ? I don’t know. 


Deaf people should be able to read everything that is said, 
whether is is agreeable or not. Their eyes should be very wide 
open all the time. Hearing people, even the kindest of them, 
sometimes say things that they would not say if they thought we 
could understand them; therefore we should let them know 
that we are paying attention all the time. Deaf people must not 
be surprised if they hear unpleasant things and sometimes have 
their feelings deeply hurt. Often they will understand things 
not intended for them to hear; people who are not deaf some¬ 
times have the same experience. They do not mind it and we 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


75 


should not. We shall be so glad that we can read what is said 
that we shan’t care. 


FOOLISH PROVERBS 

Little pictures have big frames. 

A thorn in the bush is worth two in the hand. 
Children are both seen and heard. 

A bird in the hat is worth two in the store. 
More speed, more fines. 


THE STORY 

Harry Lauder says, in his book “Between You and Me,” that 
the chance always comes to the man who is sure he can make 
use of it. By chance, he means opportunity, and in another 
place he says, in his own inimitable way: 

“But opportunity is no always out seekin’ doors to knock 
upon. Whiles she’ll be sittin’ hame snug as a bug in a rug, 
waitin’ fer callers, her ear cocked fer the sound o’ the knock on 
her door. While the knock comes, she’ll lep’ up and open, and 
that man’s fortune is made from that day forth. Ye maun 
e’en go seekin’ opportunity yerself’, if so be she’s slow in coming 
to ye.” 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Do you like to write letters? 

What kind of letters do you like to write? 

You will need some writing paper. Have you any paper? 
Do you want me to get you some? 

Please lend me some paper and an envelope. 

I want a stamped envelope. I have a stamp. 





76 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


How many envelopes do you want? I need a good many. 

I must write a letter to my friend in Boston. 

This is an awful pen. I don’t like it. I can’t use it. 

Shall I mail your letter for you ? 

What day of the month is it? 

This is the first day of the month. 

What has become of my pencil? Oh, here it it. I have it. 
What happened to it? It needs sharpening. 

Let me sharpen it for you. Be sure and seal your letter. 
Did you address it correctly? Look and see. 

What are you looking for? I am looking for my pen, and 
for a piece of blotting paper. 

You must be careful not to blot your paper. 

I wish you would come to my room when you are through 
your writing. 


THE POEM 
Freedom 

“I can go on my way without your aid, 

And lift a fearless face up to the sky, 

Singing a song of thanks that I am I— 

To the kind gods who made me unafraid. 

“Sometimes the lonely journey has seemed long, 
And I have thought and feared I needed you. 
But you have taught me what I knew was true. 
That only Solitude could make me strong.” 

—Cecilia Loftus 



LESSON XVI 


The Letter G, the Letter K, and the Letter C 

These three sounds are most confusing. Although as letters 
their names are so different, GEE—KAY—and SEE—their 
phonetic sound is the same. The letter “G” is always soft 
before “E,” “I,” and “Y” but hard before the other vowels; as 
we are now studying only the different sounds of “A” we pro¬ 
ceed to the study of the hard or guttural sound of these letters. 
The phonetic sound is produced in the throat just back of the 
tongue, the lips are parted and the teeth separated. The sound 
may be distinctly felt by clasping the hand around the throat 
and saying “G—Rthe same effect is produced with “K—R” 
and “C—R.” 

Here are the short words for practice with a hearing assis¬ 
tant : 

gay—gar—gaw—gan—kay—kar—kaw—kan 
gar—gay—gay—gaw—gaw—gan—kar—kaw 
kaw—kan—gar—gan—kar—kaw—gar—gaw 
gaw—gaw—kaw—kaw—gay—kay—kan—gan 
gan—kan—gar—kar—gay—kay—gaw—kaw 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

She liked to gaze out of the window. We gazed far away 
over the mountains. 

The faithful soldier stood on guard all night. He had a 
guardian and his guardian took good care of him. 

I have begun to plant my garden. The weeds just love my 
garden. 

'‘Mistress Mary, quite contrary, 

How does your garden grow? 

With silver bells and cockle shells 

And fair maids all in a row.” 



78 Lip Reading Made Easy 

Mary Garden has a fortunate name. It reminds me of a 
lovely garden. 

“Train’s gone.” The auctioneer says “Going, going, gone.” 

The poor fellow is ruined, his money’s gone. 

“God, who loves us, commands that we should love Him and 
one another.” 

Tiny Tim said “God bless us every one.” 

Her dress was made of gauze. Gall stones are dangerous 
things. 

She has announced her engagement. Are you engaged to¬ 
day. 

She will have a long engagement. I’ve engaged a woman to 
come Monday. 

That was a fine game. The game is to be next Saturday. 

When is the game called? She came over to see me this 
morning. 

What is he going to gain by that ? The man was walking 
with a cane. 

He may lose more than he gains. Isn’t she gay? 

She came up stairs very late. The flowers are so gay and 
bright. 

Do you like my new hat? Is it too gay? 

She gave five dollars for it. I gave her a box of candy. 

I think she gave too much for the candy. The wind is blow¬ 
ing a perfect gale. 

The gale blew the trees all down. How do you heat your 
garage ? 

Where are you going ? I am going out to the garage. 


The Poem 

I know a lovely garden 

Where bloom the sweetest flowers, 
And there, from morn to even 
I pass away the hours. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


79 


For love is that sweet garden 
Beneath God’s boundless blue, 
And He looks down and blesses 
My life, my love, and you. 


The Game 

Distribute paper and pencils. Ask each one to write the name 
of each vegetable as it is read, and see how many will have 
them all. 

Have you a garden? 

Did you ever have a garden? 

I received a garden seed catalogue today. 

It has fine pictures. 

I know those seeds are good because I have tried them. 

I like to have a garden. 

I try to have something on my table from my garden every 
day. 

(Begin writing:) 

I have a little bed of chives which comes up very early. 

It is for seasoning salads and soups. 

I brought it from Mt. Vernon, N. Y. 

It grows wild there. 

It is near mv rhubarb bed. 

Rhubarb comes up very early. 

We put boxes around it to make it grow up tall. 

Mine does not get a chance to grow very tall. I am so 
anxious to use it. 

There are parsnips in some gardens now, that have been out 
all Winter. 

They are sweet and good. 

The proverb says, “Fair words butter no parsnips.” 

Swiss Chard that was planted last Fall comes up very early. 
Peas are planted early as possible. 



80 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


The young dandelions make nice salads. 

We only use the white part of the leaves. 

Radishes like a warm bed. 

Last year I had two dozen cabbage plants. 

They were fine. 

J like the Savoy cabbage best. 

I had two dozen tomato plants. 

I also had some yellow tomatoes. 

We had six poles of Kentucky Wonder beans. 

The cucumbers did not grow very well. 

One row of celery plants is nice for garnishing and for salads. 
I have a mint bed which comes up every year. 

It is good for making mint sauce. 

We had a few summer squashes. 

There is not room for pumpkins. 

Corn is very much better when raised in your own garden. 
Words used in this game are chives, rhubarb, parsnips, Swiss 
chard, peas, dandelions, radishes, cabbage, 

Savoy cabbage, tomato, beans, cucumbers, celery, mint, squash, 
pumpkins, corn, potatoes, onions,' carrots. 


THE STORY 

A teacher had a class of eight small Italian children. 

She was trying to teach them to' write English. 

They were very anxious to learn everything and they did 
everything exactly as she told them to do. 

She gave them sentences to write with one word missing. 

She gave them these: 

“I have no candy.” (negative) and then gave them 

“I have-candy” (affirmative.) 

What do you think they wrote ? 

Instead of saying some candy, they all wrote “I have yes 
candy.” 




LESSON XVII 


Thanksgiving Day. 

Practice Sentences: 

This is Thanksgiving week; you all know that. 

It is a holiday all over the country from East to West, from 
North to South; the whole nation keeps Thanksgiving Day. 

Are you going to be at home on this day and do you have 
a party or are you going away somewhere? 

This is a fine turkey. 

I’m glad you like it. 

Did you get it at C’s or where did you find such a splendid 
bird. 

They call it a Vermont turkey but I believe it came from 
Kentucky. 

Which part shall I give you. 

What part do you prefer? 

Light or dark meat. 

I like a second joint, please, but not the whole of it. 

Do you carve the turkey yourself ? 

I will have a piece of both kinds of meat, if you please, both 
light and dark. 

I want anything you like to give me for I am very fond of 
turkey. 

Will you have some of the dressing? 

Yes, please. 

Will you have gravy? On the potato, please. 

Shall I give you some cranberry sauce ? 

What delicious cranberry sauce this is. 

I never saw or tasted a better bird. 

It is cooked just right. 

Do you make a plum pudding or do you have pies or what 
do you have. 

We like a sherbet after the turkey course. 


82 Lip Reading Made Easy 

A cranberry sherbet would be nice with wafers and then 
nuts and raisins. 

Mrs. B. is making English Plum Puddings to sell. 

They come in coffee tins and will keep a long time. 

I am saving one for Thursday. 

She uses a hard sauce, butter and sugar creamed and colored 
with grape jelly if you like, or flavored with vanilla. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

I am so glad to see you looking so well. 

Oh yes, I am quite well now, thank you. 

Another Thanksgiving Day! 

Do you ever play games at dinner ? 

Sometimes it is a good plan to play a lip reading game. 

We often play a game called “Come She Come.” It is good 
practice and easily learned. 

One starts and says, “Now let’s play ‘Come she come.’ ” 

Another says, “All right. What do you come by? ” “I come 
by the letter —giving the first letter of any article in the 
room. Then all guess what the word is. If it is difficult 
you can say that it is on the table or on the floor, or it is 
something to hold in the hand, or something to wear. This is an 
amusing game for old and young and it is especially good for 
lip readers. 


THE STORY 

A young woman was singing in a concert hall. Her selection 
was named, “I Wonder if He’ll Miss Me.” 

She sang each verse, it was very pathetic, and the refrain 
came in every time with, “I Wonder if He’ll Miss Me,” with 
fervor. 

Finally, a voice from the gallery called out, “Well, if he does, 
never let him take a gun again!” 




Lip Reading Made Easy 83 

A GAME 

For an interesting exercise with a class, try the following 
little game: 

Let the teacher spell a word beginning with a certain letter 
agreed upon as “H.” Then ask the one who understands what 
the word is, to come up quickly and pronounce the word, and 
make a sentence with it. Allow the whole class to read her 
sentence. Then she spells another word beginning with “H,” 
and the one who understands her first, comes up, gives the 
word, makes a sentence with it, and gives a new word. 

Notice that she does not pronounce the word, only spells it, 
and this requires ability to read the names of all the letters. 

It is excellent practice to pronounce the letters of the alphabet 
and study them by themselves; also to study numbers alone and 
in combination. 

Practice enn—emm—tee—see—dee—ef¥—gee—aitch—ell— 
pea—bee—arr—es—you—doubleyou—kay—ecks. 

You will find the numbers 8—9 and 10 very puzzling, as 
they are strictly homophonous. 


LESSON XVIII 


The Letter “W” 

Do not allow your assistant to wander from the lesson exer¬ 
cises. It will be very natural for her to think of other things 
in connection with the sentences, but if she stops to compose 
new phrases it will waste the time of the class, and she probably 
will not bring in the sounds which you are studying. Go 
through all the lessons, each one by itself. After you have 
studied each lesson thoroughly, go over the whole book again 
and again. To master every word in this book will give a work¬ 
ing vocabulary of not less than 1000 words such as you often 
meet; you will then be prepared to take more difficult work. 
When reviewing, try taking two sentences at a time, or per¬ 
haps three or even more, without repeating them, just reading 
them off rapidly. 

way—war—wa f t—war—wa f t—way—wa f t—way—war 
way—whay—what—way—what—whay—waft—what 
way—whay—whay—way—waft 
way—waft 

The sound of the letter “W” is peculiar. In order to give it, 
the lips are rounded together to make the sound of oo—oo, 
almost to whistle. To say way, we have to say oo—ay; it is 
the same with all the words beginning with “W.” 

For the purpose of practice we include in this lesson a few 
words beginning with “W” followed by “R” or "H ” Notice 
that the “W” is silent before the “R,” and that with these words 
we have the same motion as in the lesson on the letter “R.” 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Is this the way to the Post Office ? That is a short way to go. 
It is hard for me to go away on Sunday. Her coat is too 
warm for her on a day like this. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


85 


It seems to be warm out of doors today, but it is not so warm 
in the house. I wish you could be there at six o’clock. 

I am always awake very early, but I don’t know what time it 
is. 

The train waited for me this morning I was so late in getting 
to the station. 

They wait just a minute for a passenger when the train is not 
late. 

There is an old song which is called, “Wait for the wagon, 
and we’ll all take a ride.” Did you ever hear that song? 

There is a proverb which says, ‘Time and tide wait for no 
man;” another proverb says, “Time and tide bring luck to the 
fisherman.” 

There is a waning moon tonight and I shall try to see it. 

The moon waxes and wanes every month. 

Time is the most precious thing in the world, and yet, how 
we waste it. 

The American people are called very wasteful; do you think 
they are? 

We weep and wail over our sins, but what good does that 
do, I should like to know. 

The children love to wade in the water all day long at the 
seashore. 

Sometimes we all take off our shoes and stockings and wade 
in the surf. 

They went away this morning, and they waved their hands to 
us as far as we could see them. We waved our handkerchiefs to 
them and they waved back to us. The waves are so high today 
we can hear them roaring. 

There is a club in Auburndale called the Wa—be—wa—wa 
Club. It is a canoe club and the name is an Indian name. Do 
you know what it means ? 

Can you tell how much you weigh and how much you ought 
to weigh? 


86 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


It is said that all things come to those who wait; but some¬ 
times they come cold; sometimes also they come C. O. D. 


SOLITUDE 

“I go my way, thou goest thine, 
Many ways we wend, 

Many days and many ways 
Ending in one end. 

Many a wrong and its curing song, 
Many a road and many an inn. 
Room to roam but only one Home, 
For all the world to win.” 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

I am so thankful the war is over, aren’t you? I think we 
should stop having wars. 

Have you seen my new watch around anywhere? 

Won’t you go to the door and watch for the milkman or the 
iceman ? 

I have been watching for them all the morning, but it’s no 
use watching. 

I went to a waffle party yesterday and had just as many 
waffles as I wanted. 

There seems to be a wall between us. I don’t know what 
causes it. 

Who do you suppose built that old wall? It looks as if it 
had been built about a hundred years ago. 

Wasn’t that a strange thing for him to do? It seemed so 
strange for him to do that, when we were all so happy. 

My little dog wags his tail every time I speak to him. 




Lip Reading Made Easy 87 

That neighbor of ours is quite a wag—he always has a good 
joke ready. 

What did you do when you went away this morning? You 
must have had a good 1 time going about, and I envy you a little. 

Whatever you do, it will be all right, I am sure. I do not 
worry about you at all, for I am sure you know how to take 
care of yourself. 

The student will observe that the sentences in this les¬ 
son are very much longer than in anything we have previously 
taken. No one should attempt to read these long sentences 
unless he has been prepared for them by the earlier lessons. 
After studying faithfully the words and phrases which have 
been given, short sentences should easily be read, but this is 
not enough; it is necessary to understand long sentences as fast 
as they follow each other, without hesitation, and these lessons 
should begin to prepare for these. 


SENTENCES CONTAINING HOMOPHONOUS 
WORDS 

I want you to pull your chair up before the fire and warm 
your hands. 

The boy has a large, red apple, and he will share it with 
his sister. 

I think I shall have to climb on a chair to reach the highest 
shelf. 

That man owns a share of stock in a great many different 
companies. 

Last winter I bought a handsome new plush chair for my 
living room. 

I should be glad to share everything I have found with you. 

When you go to the store, I wish you would buy me a bar 
of Ivory soap. 



88 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


We must not allow our children to mar the furniture. 

Did you notice what was the par value of those stocks today ? 

A sandy bar which extends across the entrance is a great 
obstruction. 

A bad disposition will mar the most beautiful face in the 
world. 

The child was calling Pa-pa a long time; sometimes he 
changed and called for his Mamma. 


THE STORY 

The Two Enterprising Frogs 

Just as a gamble, two frogs, in search of richer feeding 
grounds jumped into a bucket of cream they found standing in 
a brook. 

“May as well give up,” exclaimed one, after floundering 
about, vainly trying to get out. “We’re goners.” 

“Keep on paddling,” answered the other, “and we’ll get 
there.” 

“No use,” came from number one, “too thick to swim, too 
thin to jump, too slippery to crawl; bound to die anyway; may 
as well die now.” 

And he sank to the bottom and “kicked the bucket.” 

His companion doggedly kept on paddling, paddling, pad- 
ling. 

The next morning found him perched on a mass of butter, 
eagerly disposing of the flies that came swarming from all 
directions. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 
THE POEM 


89 


Art thou poor yet hast thou golden slumbers? 

O sweet content! 

Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplexed ? 

O punishment! 

Doest thou laugh to see how fools are vexed 
To add to golden numbers, golden numbers? 

O, sweet content, O sweet, O sweet content! 

Work apace, apace, apace, apace, 

Honest labor bears a lovely face. 

Then hey nonny, nonny, hey nonny nonny! 

Cans’t drink the waters of the crisped spring? 

O sweet content! 

Swimm’st thou in wealth yet sink’st in thine own tears? 
O punishment! 

Then he who patiently wants burden bears. 

No burden bears, but is a king, a king! 

O sweet content, O sweet, O sweet content! 

Work apace, apace, apace apace, 

Honest labor wears a lovely face. 

Then hey nonny nonny, hey nonny! 

By Thomas Dekker. 


LESSON XIX 


Miscellaneous Sentences 

This lesson combines a number of situations in which it is 
very important that lip readers should be prepared to know what 
is likely to be said. 

It is purposely made a long lesson, but it should be divided 
into several different periods adapted to the proficiency of the 
student. 

Each division should be studied by itself, and when the whole 
lesson can be given to the student without repeating one phrase, 
it may be considered that he is on the high road to becoming 
a very good lip reader. 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Let’s go shopping. Well, what shall we buy? 

Let’s go to the dry goods stores. What are you going to buy ? 

I need some new shoes. Then we will go to the department 
stores. 

At the Shoe Store 

Good morning, Madame. What may I show you? 

Right this way. Take this seat, please. 

You need low shoes, you said? It was laced boots you 
wanted ? 

What size? What price do you want to pay? 

About this quality? The same as these? 

Indoor shoes—or out door ones? What kind do you want? 
These are 5, 7, 10, 3, 3j4, 4, 4^4. 

Will you try this on? Those aren’t right. 

They hurt me Do they hurt you? 

These are rather large. Anything else in my line ? 

I need shoe lacings. I must have some slippers. 

Are these heels too high ? These shoes are all worn out. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


91 


We can repair them for you. How much will it cost? 

About two dollars. Perhaps two dollars and a quarter. 

Shall I send them ? They will go by parcel post. 

That will be ten cents extra. Thank you very much. 

I hope you will favor us again. 

Now I have to buy a hat. Oh, that’s lovely! 

I like to buy hats. I don’t like to at all. 

It is very exhausting, and takes me a long time to select. 
What kind of a hat are you going to get? I want a nice 
handsome one. 

Here we are. Let’s go right in. 


At the Milliner's 

Good morning, ladies. Are you looking for something? 
Here is something you might like. This is very stylish. 

This is an imported model. It’s really handsome. 

Wouldn’t you like to try it on? Is that the way it goes? 

It fits your head very well. Yes, that is very becoming. 
That one is not so well. I think that one is too large for you. 
Step this way, please. Here is a hand glass. 

That is a very nice hat. I am sure you will enjoy it. 

We will make the price right for you. Do you like that color ? 
It has a beautiful feather. You can wear it all the year 
around. 

What do you think about it ? It looks very stylish. 

It will be nice for you, but the price is rather high. 

You have to pay if you have anything good. Don’t you 
think so? 

Shall I send it for you? If you please. 

What address? It will come today, sure. 

Thank you. Good morning. 


92 Lip Reading Made Easy 

At the Fruit Store 

Can I serve you, Madame? We have everything this morn¬ 
ing. 

Here are some nice, big pines (or pineapples) from Hawaii. 
How good they are! These oranges are very cheap. 

These are Floridas. These are from California. 

These are from Jamaica. These are from the Isle of Pines. 
Would you like to have some of these? They are Navels. 
They are seedless. Those plums are fine. 

The purple ones are best, but the yellow ones are very sweet. 
We have red ones, purple ones, and yellow ones, all ripe. 
Just look at these cherries. I must have some of those. 

How much are they ? How do you sell grape fruit. 

These large ones are three for a quarter. Can I send it for 
you? 

Could you send it for me? Yes, I could, very well. 

Right away? No, we have no way to send it. I am sorry. 
The boy will meet you at the boat (or at the station.) 

Those peaches don’t look very ripe. They taste better than 
they look. 

I’m sure I hope so. These strawberries are very fine. 

Let me send you a basket of grapes. Very well. 

What kind have you? We have white ones—Niagaras, pur¬ 
ple ones—Concord, and red ones—Delawares, all good. 

That will be all right. Thank you, lady. 

Some nuts today? English walnuts or pecans, or some of 
these French chestnuts? 

How much a pound ? Thirty-five, twenty-five, fifteen. 

Dry Goods 

I wish to buy a few things. I need some more stockings. 

Let me see what you have. These are all silk. 

These are part silk and part lisle. They will wear well. 
These are all cotton, but good quality. What number? 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


93 


What color ? What quality ? 

These will shrink a little. Those will be too large, (or too 
small.) 

Let me measure them around your fist. You can tell by that. 
They look rather large. Wh^t is the price ? 

We have all prices here. I am sure we can please you. 

We only sell this kind by the box. Three pairs in a box. 

I will send them immediately. There will be no delay. 

Good morning, Madame. Thank you. 

At the Cafe 

Oh, I am so hungry! Let’s have lunch, now. 

All right. I’m with you. Where’ll we go. 

Oh, wherever you like. This looks like a nice place. 

I’m sure it is. What shall we have? 

What do you like. Here’s the bill of fare, (menu.) 

They don’t seem to have as much as usual, today. 

I think we can find something good. Will you take soup. 
Yes. What kind have they? Consomme, and pea soup. 
Haven’t they any chowders? I like a clam chowder and I 
like an oyster chowder. 

Shall we have a chop or what do you think? 

No, don’t let’s have chops. How will a steak do ? 

They have corned beef and potato salad. 

They have beef loaf and beef stew with dumplings. 

I like that. They have chicken pie. 

They have all kinds of sandwiches. The apple pie looks good. 
We could have apple pie with ice cream. That’s always good. 
[Note. —It would be well to take a simple bill of fare—and 
go through it with the student, making each one of the dishes 
the foundation for a set of sentences. Use French words, 
also, explaining them if necessary, and giving the correct 
accent.] 

A great many people have the habit of preceding their re- 


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marks with some favorite expression, like, “Oh,” or, “Well,” or 
“Say,” or even “M—m—m ” 

While this is not to be encouraged in a lip reader and would 
be called bad form, or bad practice, it helps the reader a 
great deal, as it is like a signal calling for attention. It cor¬ 
responds to the Hello signal on the telephone, or to “Tendon, 
Comp’ny,” in the Army, and puts us into the mood of listen¬ 
ing. Our friends would do well to remember this, and it 
would sometimes save their repeating a whole sentence. 

Speaking the name—or even placing the hand lightly and 
gently on the arm of the reader, saves embarrassment in manv 
cases. 


THE POEM 

Over and over again 

No matter which way I turn, 

I always find in the Book of Life 
Some lesson I have to learn. 

I must take my turn at the wheel, 

I must grind out the golden grain, 

I must work at my task with a resolute will 
Over and over again. 

The path that has once been trod 
Is never so rough for the feet. 

And the lesson we once have learned 
Is never so hard to repeat. 

Though sorrowful tears must fall, 

And the heart to its depths be riven, 

With storm and tempest we need them all, 
To render us fit for Heaven. 


Josephine Pollard. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 
TO THE CLASS 


95 


It makes me very sorry when you tell me you do not practice 
lip reading at home. 

When you say that you do not have time, I feel that that is 
because you would rather be doing something else, which you 
consider of more importance at the moment. 

Every one has time enough to do what he likes the best, and 
I know that lip reading is dull business. Could you expect to 
learn Greek or Latin or French or German by just one lesson 
a week when you just sit and listen, and never study by your¬ 
self? You have to study and study hard! Little by little 
you learn, but you learn by your own effort. 

It makes me sad, too, when you tell me that your friends 
will not practice with you. It does not seem possible to me 
that families and friends could refuse to do this if they under¬ 
stood how important and valuable it is. Knowing each one of 
you as well as I do I am not willing to think that your families 
are too busy to give you fifteen minutes a day for reading over 
these sentences, if you give them a chance. 

Are you sure that you yourself are willing to give the time? 
Do you realize that there is nothing else in the world of so 
much importance to you? Do you realize what is ahead of 
you? Do you wish to grow away from everybody, to have 
a wall growing up between you and your loved ones, to be 
shut out from social intercourse, to grow old alone? 

I charge you, improve this opportunity, which may never come 
again. Study—learn—practice—work! I offer these papers 
and when they are returned unopened I am sad, because I know 
you are not accomplishing all of which you are capable. 


LESSON XX 


EUPHORBIA 

The blind have a special language, a type called Braille, by 
which they are able to read. With them the light touch of the 
fingers supplies the sense they have lost. 

The deaf are not so helpless as this, for books do not have 
to be printed especially for them. But when they try to read, 
not books, but lips, there is a special way of reading or speak¬ 
ing to them which is absolutely necessary. 

Rarely do we find so perfect a reader who can follow a 
speaker without a pause. The sentences must be broken up into 
phrases or much will be lost. 

Lip readers are able to understand short and detached 
phrases, but in order to learn to follow a lecturer in a long ad¬ 
dress, they should have much practices with long sentences 
divided into phrases, and then united into the one complete 
whole. Mrs. Gene Stratton-Porter has written a story called 
“Euphorbia,” and she has wonderfully and unconsciously car¬ 
ried out this idea which is especially adapted for lip readers. 
She has written it as if it were blank verse, but it is not blank 
verse, it is just plain prose, divided into phrases, each line be¬ 
ginning with a capital letter. At the end of each line, the reader 
would naturally make a slight pause, just long enough for the 
brain of the lip-reader to catch up and be ready for the next 
idea. Although this kind of reading may seem slow at first, 
it is the only way to master this style of speaking and as one 
must always creep before he can walk, and walk before he can 
run, so in lip reading the syllables and common phrases cor¬ 
respond to the creeping stage, these divisions into phrases cor¬ 
respond to the walking stage so that later when we listen to 
general conversation and addresses, leaping, as the subject does 
from one thing to another, we may be able to follow swiftly. 

To illustrate this we will study in the same manner Aesop’s 
fable called, 


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Lip Reading Made Easy 

“ FORTUNE AND THE BOY ” 
A little boy, 

Quite tired out with play, 

Stretched out, 

And fell sound asleep 
Close to the edge 
Of a deep well. 

Fortune came by, 

And gently waking him, said, 

“My dear boy, 

Believe me, 

I have saved your life. 

If you had fallen in, 

Everybody would have laid the blame 
On me! 

But tell me truly, now, 

Would the fault have been yours 
Or mine ? ” 


THE EUPHORBIA 

The euphorbia is a plant which grows in the deserts in the 
western part of America. It is a low-running plant and is 
noted for its power to cure the bites of rattlesnakes and 
tarantulas. 

Following are a few phrases from Mrs. Stratton-Porter’s 
book, which give some idea of what is meant, and the whole 
book is recommended to be read to a lip-reading class: 

“After that, Marge visited the euphorbia 
Every time she passed its location. 

The grateful plant speedily gave proof that 
While it could exist with little water 
It appreciated having an abundance. 



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Lip Reading Made Easy 


It began to brighten, to run over the sand, 

Its flowers and leaves doubled in size, 

Their white margining was more strikingly defined; 

Its stems showed a more vivid maroon. 

And then, just when she had come to regard it 
With more real affection than she felt 
For any other living thing on earth, 

Jacob one day appeared unexpectedly 
And caught her pouring water on it. 

“Why the hell are you wasting water 

We need for the garden, on weeds ? ” he shouted. 

For the first time in recent memory 
Marge smiled at Jacob dissemblingly; 

She tried in a stumbling way to placate him. 

“I forgot to show this to you,” she said. 

“It’s our biggest piece of luck in years. 

You know they told us how like it was 
That a rattler might get us in the clearing; 

And Lucy Martin says this is a sure cure. 

If you get a bite, you just make a clean cut 
On each side of it, deep as the fangs sink: 

Then you pound a piece of this to sticky paste, 

Bind it on, and then forget all about it. 

Lucy said so. She said it was a sure cure.” 

The story goes on to show how wrong a person may be, and 
the husband in his anger throws the little Euphorbia plant far 
out into the desert. A few days after, he is bitten by a rattler, 
and nothing can save him, as a result of his own folly. 


DESERT COLORS 

The following passages have been selected for their sense 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


99 


training, which is to be observed in the character of the woman. 
Her eye becomes trained by the colors and beauty of the desert 
and its flowers. The teacher should call attention to the dif¬ 
ferent colors and flowers and the floating clouds over the moun¬ 
tains. Her ear becomes attentive to the bird notes and the sing¬ 
ing of the winds which sound to her like the music of the sea. 
These passages are very beautiful and should be studied espe¬ 
cially for their descriptions of Nature as well as for their pure 
English. 

Marge had no time for self-analysis; 

She did not know that life had failed for her 
Because it lacked color and cadence. 

Now the desert supplied the color. . . . 

She saw it in little hills of green 
From silvery sage to darkest olive, 

Touched with the varying purple of lupin 
The vivid red of penstemon and larkspur, 

Splashed with small seas of ever-shifting gold, 

All blended with the pastel of cacti. 

Marge saw dazing sunrise and sunset colors 
On endless ranges of changing mountains. 

Floating cloud banners of soft, smoky gray 
From crests of blue or rose or lavender. 

Her ear was wholly untrained in wild notes, 

But slowly it began picking up cadence. 

Something in the desert was hourly singing, 

A slow, soft song of tender heart-ease; 

Something answered on the mountains, 

A clear hearty note of reassurance. 

The winds voiced every mood of Nature 
As they sang over her quiescent desert. 

Some days Marge heard low, soothing sea notes; 

Some days they rose to fearful insistence; 


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Lip Reading Made Easy 


Again they trumpeted with thunder tones. 

The combination began to comfort her 
For the silent surliness of Jacob. 

Each hour her eye grew alert in responding 
To color she never before had seen. 

Her heart pulsed faster in swelling throbs 
To music, mostly the voice of Nature 
But in small part a little personal song 
Of the slowly awakening soul of her. 

She knew that cacti and lupin interfered 
With cultivated gardens and orchids, 

But she had seen so little of beauty 
That her hand rebelled before she struck. 

At that instant Jacob came prowling her way, 

“Are you staring at a gila monster?” he cried. 

Marge drew a deep uncertain breath of protest 
That slightly lifted her lean shoulders. 

“I was only thinking,” she said quietly. 

By permission . 


LESSON XXI 


The Letters “Fr” and “Fl” 

All the reading matter in this book is intended to be used 
for lip-reading practice. The explanations are to be read to the 
student, phrase by phrase, and every word learned. While the 
stories and poems are intended to be interesting, we should re¬ 
member that the story is not the important thing—we read the 
story in order to learn to read the words we find in it. 

The sentences in this lesson are for advanced students, as are 
also the following lessons. Only after mastering the first work 
in this book may we expect to be able to read this difficult and 
often puzzling work. 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Do you understand fractions in arithmetic? 

I did not understand fractions at school. 

The china pitcher is very fragile. 

It will be broken into fragments if you are not careful. 

The child looks rather frail I think. 

“Frail as the flower that perishes.” 

I intend to have my photographs framed. 

The frame is too large for the picture. 

The French franc has a normal value of about eighteen cents. 

The franc is a silver piece something like our 25-cent piece. 

The city gave the electric road a franchise. 

A franchise is a right to build a railroad through the city. 

“Be frank with your friends and confide in those who are 
seeking your best welfare.” 

Frank Jones used to be noted for his ale, but it is no longer 
made. 


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Lip Reading Made Easy 


The child’s mother will be frantic when she hears about it. 
The motto of France is Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. 
The word fraternal means brotherly. 

I am sure that person is working under fraudulent pretences. 
Do you think that seems like fraud? 

There will be a frost to-night I am sure. 

It was ten degrees above frost last night. 

How frosty the air feels ! 

From whom is this last letter, did you say? 

We rowed the boat from shore to shore. 

'‘From darkness to light, from death to life.” 

The kittens were on a great frolic to-day. 

They frolicked with the leaves all the morning. 

I like that pretty frock you have on. 

The priest wore his frock into the church. 

The waves were covered with froth and foam 
Did you see the dog froth at the mouth? 

Frontier life is said to be very hard. 

That book has a lovely frontispiece. 

“A frog he would a wooing go, 

Whether his mother would let him or no.” 

There are large flakes of snow falling now. 

I like to look up and watch the flakes as they fall. 

The flames could be seen for many miles. 

The flowers had beautiful flaming colors. 

What a handsome flag that is! 

It is a very large flag, and is made of silk. 

That was a very flagrant and wicked act, 

The men tore up the flagstones all along the street. 

A flank attack is a kind of a movement in a battle. 


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103 


Flannel and flannellette are very useful materials. 

I do not like to see the flag flapping. 

The crow flapped his wings and flew away. 

Shall we have some flap-jacks for breakfast. 

The light flared very brightly in our faces. 

It flashed away out over the sea. 

That seems rather flashy to me. 

I want to give you a flask. Will you accept it? 

The land is very flat and uninteresting. 

What he said sounded rather flat and stale. 

Why did she throw the flatiron at him, do you think ? 

Perhaps he only meant to flatter you. 

I do not care for that kind of talk. It is flattery. 

The flavor of this drink pleases me very much. 

It has a delicious flavor. 

There was a flaw in that title which is serious. 

Linen is made from flax. 

Some blonde hair is called flaxen. 

I saw a flock of geese flying over last week. 

A flock of pigeons come around the house quite often. 

Words used in the above sentences for special study: 

fraction, fragile, fragment, frail* frame, franc, 
franchise, frank, frantic, fraternity, fraud, frost, 
from, frolic, frock, froth, frog, frontier, frontispiece, 
flake, flame, flag, flagrant, flagstone, flank, 
flannel, flannellette, flap, flap-jack, flare, flash, flashy, 
flask, flat, flat-iron, flattery, flatten, flavor, flaw, 
flax, flaxen, flock. 

THE STORY 

An officer relating his adventures to some friends, told them, 


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Lip Reading Made Easy 


that he and a single servant had once made fifty wild Arabs 
run. His friends stared in surprise, but he told them that 
there was nothing very wonderful in it after all. “For,” said he, 
“we ran, and they ran after us! ” 


LESSON XXII 


The Letters “Cl” and “Cr” 

While the study of lip-reading trains the mind and is educa¬ 
tional in its scope, a college education is not necessary in order 
to learn lip-reading. On the contrary, it has been found that 
people of no education learn lip reading very readily. Natural 
power of imitation is very useful; a power to mimic, to do just 
what someone else does, helps immensely. 

Among the deafened soldiers who were studying lip-reading 
at Cape May, an uneducated colored boy led all the rest. He 
could repeat word for word, possibly without understanding 
much of it, making his lips go to imitate the teacher, the same 
as he would make his fingers move. Most of these soldiers 
found lip reading exceedingly difficult. They were obliged by 
the Government to take a certain course for three months. 
They learned something, of course, but when they came out 
into the world of business they found, what was true, that “peo¬ 
ple won’t stop for it.” Their shop-mates and associates found 
it easier to shout at them or to leave them alone, and they are 
still handicapped. Some will read better than others, and some 
will wisely continue their training, in time becoming good read¬ 
ers, but three months’ training for a person who has never 
learned to watch the lips, is only a beginning. It requires 
years of study and practice, not only in class, but in individual 
drill. 

People will sometimes think that they are not deaf enough 
to learn and that they will hear too much in taking the lessons. 
This is a mistake. For often the teacher does not use her 
voice in giving the drill, and while it is considered better to use 
sound, it is not necessary. One should begin this study immedi¬ 
ately the hearing begins to fail; even should the hearing be 
regained, the study will be an added and useful accom¬ 
plishment. Some one who visited a class in lip-reading, after 


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Lip Reading Made Easy 


observing what work these deaf people could do, exclaimed: 
“Every deaf person should be obliged by law to learn it. Just 
think how much trouble it would save their friends! ” 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

I think his claim is not valid. 

He made a very outrageous claim for damages. 

He was claiming too much that time. 

The clay was too soft for working. 

There is a very interesting story by Arnold Bennett called 
“The Clay Hanger.” 

We went to the shore to dig clams, and we found a great 
many. 

Do you like a clam chowder? 

He clambered down off the roof. 

My hands are cold and moist and clammy. 

We heard the clang of the fire bells. 

The bells are clamoring and clanging. 

We had a clandestine meeting. 

The chains were clanking in the prison. 

I shall clap my hands just as loud as I can. 

We will all clap our hands. 

The clapboards must be fastened. 

I used to like a light wine called claret. 

I have had a dress which was claret color. 

The pussy cat was sharpening her claws. 

We must not use the fat until it is well clarified. 

I like to hear a good clarinet player. 

She clasped the child to her heart. 

This is the advanced class in lip-reading. 

Sometimes it is well to classify our subjects. 

This is my friend—my classmate. 

I omitted that clause in my sentence. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


10 7 


She locked her closet door when she went out. 
What kind of cloth is that dress made of ? 
Please look at the clock for me. 

The man dances the clog very well. 


THE STORY 

While visiting the South recently, a traveller chanced upon a 
resident of a sleepy hamlet in Alabama. 

“Are you a native of this town ? ” asked the traveller. 

“Am I what ? ” languidly asked the one addressed. 

“Are you a native of the town ? ” 

“What’s that?” 

“I asked you whether you were a native of the place? ” 

At this juncture there appeared at the open door of the cabin, 
the man’s wife, tall, sallow, and gaunt. 

After a careful survey of the questioner, she said: 

“Ain’t ye got no sense, Bill? He means was yo’ livin’ 
heah when yo’ was born, or was yo’ born before yo’ begun 
livin’ heah. Now, answer him.” 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

The fashions seem to have a craze this year. 
Did you hear that crash? 

I will make you some cranberry sauce. 

Be sure and cramp the wheel. 

That was a fine sailing craft. 

He cracked his whip and drove along. 

I will get a box of crackers. 

We always have crab apples. 

He will have to crank the car. 




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Lip Reading Made Easy 


Don’t you think he is a little “cranky” ? 

Crepe de chine is a very pretty cloth. 

It means Chinese crape. 

She has to crawl before she can walk. 

The baby crawls on her hands and knees. 

Words which are especially studied in this lesson: 

claim, claiming, clay, Clay Hanger, clams, 
clambered, clammy, clang, clamoring, clanging, 
clandestine, clanking, clap, clap-boards, claret, 
claws, clarified, clarinet, clasp, class, class-mate, 
clause, closet, cloth, clock, clog, craze, crash, 
cranberry, cramp, craft, cracked, crackers, crab, 
crank, cranky, crepe, crawl. 


THE POEM 

The Criss-Cross Baby 

A little sprite, in bed-gown white 
Just fresh from Nod-land’s Isle, 

Comes trailing out, with ready-made pout 
And no sweet morning smile, 

But in its’ place, on wee brown face 
A black and ugly frown. 

From rosy lips to finger tips 
I think the frown went down 
From turned-up nose to turned-out toes 
Under the small night-gown, 

Oh you criss-cross baby, 

You criss-cross baby, 

You fretful, whining, peevish, pining 
Criss-cross baby. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


109 


Fretful meeting mother’s greeting 
Of a bright “Good-morning! ” 

And worse than this, 

Her proffered kiss 

She treats with utter scorning. 

Will not be dressed, but stands confessed 
As cross as cross can be. 

Then down she sits, and small brow knits, 

What can the matter be, 

With this criss-cross baby, 

This criss-cross baby, 

This fretful, whining, peevish, pining 
Criss-cross baby? 

“Come, come, my dear, your breakfast here 
Will be as cold as ice. 

Here’s toast so white, and butter bright, 

And milk and honey nice, 

What’s this? You’re crying, sobbing, sighing? 
What is amiss with you ? ” 

Droops the head curly, “I dot up s’urly.” 

“Well, surely that is true.” 

Oh you criss-cross baby, 

You criss-cross baby, 

You fretful, whining, peevish, pining 
Criss-cross baby. 


Estelle M. H. Merrill. 


LESSON XXIII 


The Letters “Sh” 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

Let’s walk on the shady side of the street. 

It is better to keep in the shade as much as possible. 

I consider that rather a shady transaction. 

Let’s shake hands over it. 

The platform is very shaky and may collapse. I am afraid 
of it. 

The Shakers make very fine chairs and rugs. 

Did you ever hear of a Shaker bonnet? 

I shall not be able to go out with you this evening to the 
theatre. 

Shall you buy a new coat this year? 

Shall I open the window for you. 

What a shame it is to see the laws of our country violated! 
It was shameful the way those people were acting yesterday. 
It was shameful, but it was so ridiculous I could not help 
laughing. 

She was so ashamed she covered her face in a shame-faced 
way. 

That is a very good shape for you. 

The young lady is tall and shapely. 

I think we had a narrow escape that time; it would be called 
a “close shave.” 

The man went to the barber shop for a shave. 

Don’t speak so sharp; modulate your voice. 

The knife was so sharp I was afraid I should cut myself. 

I wish you would sharpen my pencil for me. It is all broken. 
I want to have it very much sharper than that; just as sharp 
as it can be. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


111 


That man is a regular sharper; he would swindle his mother. 

When we go in bathing we often think of fishes and sharks. 

One year there were sharks around our beaches, but not 
lately. 

Charlotte Corday was a very brave girl, although not well 
informed. She was a heroine of the French Revolution. 

The Shah of Persia was visiting in Rome about fifteen 
years ago. 

There was an exhibition of shawls at the hall not long ago. 

Many of the shawls were very beautiful. 

What a shock that must have been! 

I have not intended to shock you. 

The mill was used for making a kind of cloth called shoddy. 

Shoddy is a mixture of cotton and wool which are worked 
over together. 

His shop was very neat and attractive. 

Shop-lifters are said to be very common about Christmas 
time. 

How short her dress is. It is too short and ought to be 
lengthened. 

There is a shortage of money all over Europe; sometimes 
there is here! 

Everybody is eating Strawberry Shortcake just now. 

She has had many lessons in typewriting and shorthand. 

Are you so short-sighted as that, 

Do forgive my short-comings. 


THE STORY 

One Irishman was telling another how hot it was in Jamaica. 
He said it was 110° in the shade a good many times. “But,” 
said the other, encouragingly, “you don’t have to stay in the 
shade all the time, do you ? ” 



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Lip Reading Made Easy 


A man was complaining to a friend about his talkative wife. 
He said she did nothing but talk, talk all the time. The friend 
said, “What does she talk about?” and the man replied, “She 
doesn’t say!” 


A story was told about a man who, after he had died, came 
to a place where there were two roads with two sign boards. 
One of the boards said, “To Hell”; the other said, “To 
Heaven.” 

The man had not been a good man; he knew it well, and he 
did not expect anything good to happen to him, so he turned 
to the road marked “To Hell,” and started on his way. 

A stranger who was standing near, said to him, “Are you 
sure that is your road ? ” The man replied that it was. But 
the stranger, pointing to the other one said. “This road looks 
very good. Hadn’t you better try this one ? ” 

When the above story was told, the story teller paused, and 
nothing was said for a moment. 

Then some of the listeners said, “Is that all ? ” “What’s the 
rest of it?” “I don’t think that’s much of a story.” Another 
said, “Pretty short! ” Another said, “We have to make that 
story ourselves. You put all the work on us.” But another 
one said no word, but gave the story-teller a long look which 
meant more than words. 


SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

The man looked so shabby I did not know what to say. 
A grapefruit is sometimes called a shaddock. 

Shall I buy a shad to-day? There is nothing any better. 
The prisoners were cruelly shackled. 

She is afraid of her shadow. 




Lip Reading Made Easy 113 

There was a bright shaft of light coming in through the 
window. 

What a shaggy little dog you are! 

The water there is very shallow. 

A row-boat is sometimes called a shallop. 

That is nothing but a sham. 

You must not shamble when you walk. 

We are going to have a shampoo. Won’t you come with us. 

I shan’t know what you mean if you speak that way. 

That will shatter all your ideals. 

My little cottage is so small it is almost a shanty, but I 
like it. 

Words especially studied in this lesson: 

shady, shade, shake, shaky, Shakers, shall, shan’t, 
shame, shameful, ashamed, shape, shapely, shave, 
sharp, sharpen, sharper, sharks, Charlotte, Shah, 
shawls, shock, shoddy, shop, shop-lifter, short, 
shortage, short-cake, short-hand, short-sighted, 
short-comings, shabby, shaddock, shad, shackled, 
shadow, shaft, shaggy, shallow, shallop, sham, 
shamble, shampoo, shatter, shanty. 


LESSON XXIV 


The Letters “St.” 

SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE 

She declared that she was going to look for a position on 
the stage. 

We must be ready to take the stage when it comes. 

I used to love to ride on a stage coach. 

“Stage-coach” is a good game that children like to play. 

The carpenter puts up a good, strong staging before he be¬ 
gins his work. 

I thought the bread was rather stale today. 

The little flower has a great many stamens. 

What a state his clothes were in when he came home! 

Every State in the Union has its own motto. 

Have you been up to the State House lately? 

It is very stately and grand. 

He offered to make a statement of just how his affairs stood. 
Daniel Webster was one of our greatest statesmen. 

Shall I meet you at the Rail Road station tonight? 

She said she would stay all night. 

He put the horses in the stable, and came into the house. 
The Stadium was just crowded that afternoon. 

That is the Evening Star over there. 

I can’t remember the names of many of the stars. 

I wish she would use a little more starch when she does the 
laundry. 

Starboard and larboard are terms used on board ship. 

When does the boat start? 

I thought we should all starve to death we were so hungry. 
She stood stock still when he spoke to her. 

The pioneers used to build an enclosure called a stockade. 

He had a large stock of goods in his store. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


115 


He has to take account of his stock very often. 

The stable had stalls for six horses. Some were box stalls. 

The Governor has a large number of men on his staff. 

Did you see that man stagger when he went past us? 

That is a very handsome statue. I enjoy looking at a group 
of statuary. 

The law makes a great many different statutes. 

Words Used in these practice sentences: stage, stagecoach, 
staging, stale, stamens, state, stately, statement, statesman, sta¬ 
tion, stay, stable, stadium, star, starch, starboard, starve, stock, 
stockade, stall, staff, stagger, statue, statuary, statutes. 


WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A SMILE? 

It costs nothing but creates much. 

It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those 
who give. 

It happens in a flash and the memory of it sometimes lasts 
forever. 

None are so rich they can get along without it, and none so 
poor but are richer for its benefits. 

It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in a busi¬ 
ness, and is the countersign of friends. 

It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine 
to the sad, and Nature’s best antidote for trouble. 

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is 
something that is no earthly good to anybody till it is given 
away! 

For nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none 
left to give! 



116 Lip Reading Made Easy 

“MY AUTO, TIS OF THEE ,, 

My auto, ’tis of thee, short cut to poverty—of thee I chant. 
I blew a pile of dough on you two years ago, and now you 
quite refuse to go, or won’t or can’t. Through town and 
countryside, you were my joy and pride; a happy day. I 
loved thy gaudy hue, thy nice white tires so new, but now 
you’re down and out for true, in every way. To thee, old 
rattlebox, came many bumps and knocks; for thee I grieve. 
Badly thy top is torn, frayed, and thy seats are worn; the 
whooping cough affects thy horn, I do believe. Thy perfume 
swells the breeze, and good folks choke and sneeze while we 
pass by. I paid for thee a price ’twould buy a mansion twice, 
now everybody’s yelling “ice”—I wonder why? Thy motor 
has the grip, thy spark-plugs have the slip, and woe is thine. 
I, too, have suffered chills, ague, and kindred ills, endeavoring 
to pay my bills, since thou wert mine. Gone is my bank-roll 
now; no more ’twould choke a cow, as once before. Yet if 
I had the mon, in spite of every dun, I’d buy myself a car 
again, and speed some more! 


A RIDDLE 

Why is the fireplace like a very nice young lady ? 
Because it is good company. 

Because it doesn’t smoke. 

Because it is nice and warm to sit close to. 
Because it is snappy. 


If a colored waiter carrying a turkey on a platter should drop 
it, what would be the effect upon the world ? 

The destruction of China, the downfall of Turkey, the over¬ 
throw of Greece, the humiliation of Africa. 


Why is a watch like a river ? 

Because it can’t run long without winding. 





Lip Reading Made Easy 
BRAIN TEASERS 


117 


If Abraham Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809, in what sea¬ 
son of the year was this? 

How long does it take the sand to run through an hour 
glass ? 

Tell me in a few words what you know of the Swiss navy? 
When was the War of 1812? 

Who was the author of Macaulay’s History of England? 
What two countries were engaged in the Spanish American 
War? 

Of what nationality is the Crown Prince of Wales? 

Who was King of England in the time of Henry VIII? 


Two good games for lip readers: 

From the pantry shelf procure ten small bottles with corks, 
such as are used for homeopathic pellets. Fill each one with 
something from the pantry. Number them by marking on the 
corks. Have each player supplied with pencil and paper and 
make a list of ten; then have all examine the bottles and guess 
their contents. Fill the bottles with the following articles and 
number the bottles to correspond: 

No. 1, Ginger; 2, Mace; 3, Cinnamon; 4, Clove, 5, Cocoa; 
6, Mustard; 7, Pepper; 8, Nutmeg; 9, Turmeric; 10, Soda. 

The second one is a guessing game: 

Pass pencils and papers, and give out the questions in the 
following game: Give each person a paper with seven ques¬ 
tions at a time, numbering all the questions. There are twenty- 
one questions, and the answers follow: 

1. What is the favorite cake of the furniture dealer? 

2. Of the farmer? 



118 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


3. 

Of 

the 

carpenter ? 

4. 

Of 

the 

politician ? 

5. 

Of 

the 

tired man? 

6. 

Of 

the 

soldier ? 

7. 

Of 

the 

miser ? 

8. 

Of 

the 

girl? 

9. 

Of 

the 

minister ? 

10. 

Of 

the 

bird? 

11. 

Of 

the 

bee? 

12. 

Of 

the 

geologist ? 

13. 

Of 

the 

lover ? 

14. 

Of 

royalty ? 

15. 

Of 

the squirrel? 

16. 

Of 

the lazy man? 

17. 

Of 

the recluse? 

18. 

Of 

the milliner? 

19. 

Of 

the thirsty man? 

20. 

Of 

the wicked man? 

21. 

Of 

the patriot? 




ANSWERS 



1 . 

Walnut 



2. 

Hoe 



3. 

Pound 



4. 

Election 



5. 

Loaf 



6. 

Doughnut 



7. 

Gold, poor man’s, or one egg 



8. 

Bride 



9. 

Wedding 



10. 

Seed 



11. 

Honey 



12. 

Rock 



13. 

Date 



14. 

Prince Albert 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


119 


15. Nut 

16. Sponge 

17. Hermit 

18. Ribbon, or feather 

19. Cup 

20. Devils’ Food 

21. Washington Pie 


A READING LESSON 

As a final exercise in these lessons, it is well to take the 
Parables of our Lord. They will be found the best of practice. 
These two which are used here are written in the same manner 
as in Lesson XX on the Euphorbia, which gives it an easier 
approach to the lip reader. All of the Parables are to be studied 
in preparation for reading public speakers, sermons, and ad¬ 
dresses, and as examples of pure English. 

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 
From St. Mark IV 

Behold, 

There went out a sower to sow; 

And it came to pass, as he sowed, 

Some seed fell by the wayside, 

And the fowls of the air 
Came and devoured it up. 

And some fell on stony ground, 

Where it had not much earth; 

And, immediately, it sprang up, 

Because it had no depth of earth. 

But when the sun was up, 

It was scorched; 

And because it had no root, 

It withered away. 



120 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


And some fell among thorns, 

And the thorns grew up, 

And choked it, 

And it yielded no fruit. 

And other fell on good ground, 

And did yield fruit, 

That sprang up and increased; 

And brought forth, 

Some thirty, and some sixty, 

And some an hundred. 

Know ye not this parable? 

The sower soweth the word, 

And these are they 
By the wayside 
Where the word is sown; 

But when they have heard, 

Satan cometh 
Immediately, 

And taketh away the word 
That was sown in their hearts. 

And these are they likewise 
Which are sown on stony ground; 
Who, when they have heard the word, 
Immediately, 

Receive it with gladness; 

And have no root in themselves, 

And so endure but for a time; 
Afterward, 

When affliction or persecution ariseth, 
For the word's sake, 

Immediately 
They are offended, 

And these are they 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


121 


Which are sown among thorns; 

Such as hear the word, 

And the cares of this world, 

And the deceitfulness 
Of riches. 

And the lusts of other things entering in, 
Choke the word, 

And it becometh unfruitful. 

And these are they 

Which are sown on good ground; 

Such as hear the word, 

And receive it, 

And bring forth fruit, 

Some thirty fold, some sixty, 

And some an hundred. 

He that hath ears to hear, 

Let him hear. 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 

(From the French) St. Luke X 

But this man, a docteur, 

Wishing to appear very just, 

Said to Jesus: 

“And who is my neighbor ?” 

And Jesus, 

Taking the word, 

Replied to him as follows: 

“A man went down from Jerusalem, 

To Jericho, 

And fell into the hands of thieves, 

Who stripped him; 

And after having wounded him 



122 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


With many blows, 

Went away from him, 

Leaving him half dead. 

Now, it happened, 

That a sacrificateur came down 
By that way, there, 

And having observed the man, 

He passed along. 

A Levite also, 

Being come into the same place, 

And observing him there, 

Passed along. 

But a Samaritan, 

Passing that way, 

Came to the man, 

And looking at him, 

Was touched with compassion; 

And drew near to him. 

Pie bound up his wounds, 

And he poured in upon them, 

Oil and wine; 

Then he put him upon his saddle horse, 
And carried him to an inn. 

And took care of him. 

The next day, when he was going away, 
He took out two pennies of silver, 

And gave them to the inn keeper, 

And said to the inn keeper, 

‘Take care of this man, 

And all that thou spendest more, 

I will repay thee 
Upon my return.” 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


123 


“Which one, then, of these three, 

Seems it to thee, to have been the neighbor 
Of that one 

Who had fallen into the hands 
Of the thieves?” 

The docteur replied, 

“It is that one 

Who exercised pity towards him.” 

Jesus said to him: 

“Go, and do thou likewise.” 


“How oft my guardian angel gently cried, 
“Soul, from thy casement look without and see 
How He persists to knock and wait for thee!” 
And oh, how often to that voice of sorrow, 
‘To-morrow we will open!’ I replied; 

And when the morrow came, I answered still, 
‘To-morrow! ’ ” 


—Henry IV. Longfellow. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


PART TWO 


As the student of lip reading progresses, it is often neces¬ 
sary to have something ready to read aloud. These essays and 
stories are intended for this. Each article is to be studied, and 
the words and phrases familiarized, not only for their content, 
but as practice material. 

They should be read over by the teacher or assistant, until 
every word is clearly understood. 




“Then, welcome each rebuff 
That turns earth’s smoothness rough, 

Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go! 
Be our joys three-parts pain! 

Strive, and hold cheap the strain; 

Learn, nor account the pang; 

Dare, never grudge the throe! ” 

— R. Browning. 


PIERRE AND CAMILLE 

By A. de Musset, 1810-1857—Transliterated from the French 

The French Abbot de l’Epee who died in 1789 was among 
the first to interest himself in the instruction of the deaf. At 
that time, no distinction was made between the deaf and the 
hard of hearing or between those who were born deaf and 
those who became deaf later in life; all were classed as deaf 
and dumb and treated with cruelty and contempt. 

Alfred de Musset, a noted French writer, called attention to 
this situation in his powerful story entitled “Pierre et Ca¬ 
mille,” written a few years after the death of l’abbe de l’Epee. 

The story begins in a French family with a well-to-do gentle¬ 
man and his young wife. It describes their pleasant home and 
when an infant comes into the world, beautiful as the day— 
beau comme le jour —their happiness was complete. 

The child grew and developed quite naturally, but it was not 
long before her parents found that the poor little Camille was 
deprived of hearing and, in consequence, of speech. 

This came as a terrible blow to the parents. It was consid¬ 
ered to be a curse from Heaven. The father was so crushed 
that he refused to see the child and the mother—and went away 
on long journeys trying to forget all. The mother, however, 
loved the child with sincerest devotion and at one time when 
her own mother dared to remark that it would have been bet¬ 
ter that the child had never been born, she turned angrily upon 
her with the question, “What would you have done then if I 
had been thus ? ” 

There was an uncle in the family, however, who did not con¬ 
sider it such a terrible misfortune that his little niece should 
be mute. He looks at it in a very amusing way. He says some¬ 
thing in this vein: 

“I have had a wife so talkative that I regard everything in 
the world, no matter what it may be, as preferable to that. 

“This little one is sure, at any rate, never to make any im- 


128 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


proper remarks, nor to listen to any; nor to provoke the whole 
house by singing old airs from the opera, which are all alike. 
She will not be quarrelsome, she will not scold the servants, 
which my wife never ceased doing; she will not awaken if her 
husband should cough a little, or even if he rises a little earlier 
than she in order to have an eye on his workmen; she will not 
be too ambitious; she will be discreet; she will see very clearly, 
the deaf have good eyes; she will be able to make out bills and 
accounts when she learns to count upon her fingers, and to 
pay, if she has the money, but without quibbling and disputing 
as some property owners do over the smallest masonry job. 

“She will know for herself, one very good thing which usually 
is learned with difficulty, that it is much better to do than to say. 

“If she has the heart in the right place people will see it 
without her being obliged to put honey upon the tongue. 

“She will not laugh in company, it is true; but she will not 
have to listen at dinner to the tiresome speakers who make long 
speeches. She will be pretty, she will have a lively spirit, she 
will not make a noise. She will not be obliged, as are the blind, 
to have a dog lead her when she goes to walk. 

“My faith, if I were young, I would be glad to marry her 
when she is grown up, and to-day, old as I am, and without 
children, I would take her very willingly into my own house 
as my daughter if by chance you should get tired of her.” 

But little Camille went on her happy way not knowing what 
the others were thinking. Her mother loved her, everyone was 
kind, and she knew very little about her misfortune. 

When she was sixteen, her mother insisted upon her going 
into society, and one evening they went across a narrow river 
to attend a ball. In returning, the coachman tried to ford the 
stream, the carriage was upset: he tried to save them both, but 
finding it was too much for him, the mother loosened her hold 
and sank into the water in order that her little daughter might 
be saved. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


129 


After this sad event, little Camille became very lonely and 
melancholy. Her uncle Geraud, the master mason, the same 
one who wished to adopt her now came to care for her. After 
a while he takes her to Paris. They go to the Opera, where 
she is much admired, so much so that she observes it; she 
wishes to leave and “she began to feel most bitterly the male¬ 
diction of Heaven ” 

Her uncle hastened to go to bring her mantle and wraps, but 
at that moment she perceived near her, in the gallery, a young 
man who had in his hand a small slate upon which he was 
tracing some letters and figures, with a white crayon. He 
showed this slate to his neighbor who appeared to understand 
it at once and answered in the same manner. They both ex¬ 
changed at the same time certain signs, by opening and closing 
the fingers, which seemed to serve them for communicating 
ideas. Camille did not understand what they were doing, but 
she saw that they did not move their lips. 

She saw that the young man spoke a language in which he 
found a way to express himself without that fatal movement 
of the mouth so incomprehensible to her, and which made her 
thoughts so unhappy. 

She observed him attentively and when he passed the slate to 
his friend she made an involuntary movement to take it in her 
own hands. The young gentleman turned quickly and looked 
at her. They gazed into each other’s eyes and remained im¬ 
movable. Then in an instant they understood each other and 
both said to themselves, “We are mute ” 

The young man seated near Camille was one of the pupils of 
the Abbot de l’Epee. He had been educated by writing and by 
the sign language, and he was of a very wealthy and distin¬ 
guished family. He was the Marquis de Maubray. 

Camille went home from the Opera full of excitement; she 
desired her uncle to write for her, and after much thought he 
wrote the word “Camille.” Her education then began. It was 


130 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


her name! She could not sleep for her crowding thoughts, and 
as she sat by her window in the moonlight, suddenly she saw 
the figure of a young man, beautifully dressed, which was 
moving about in the courtyard below. He was watching her as 
she was sitting at her window, and before she realized it he 
had climbed up and was in her room. 

It was the Marquis de Maubray! 

He had followed her from the Opera and had made up his 
mind to have her for his wife. After reaching her room, he 
did not know how to communicate with her, but seeing the 
piece of board near her on which was written the name “Ca¬ 
mille,” he took the crayon and beside it wrote his own name— 
“Pierre.” 

Suddenly a great bass voice cried, “What is this that you 
are about ? ” 

“Who is this that makes a rendezvous here? How have you 
introduced yourself here, Monseiur? What do you want here 
in this house ? ” It was the uncle, Giraud, who spoke thus, en¬ 
tering with a furious aspect, in his robe de chambre. “Look at 
this beautiful thing!” he continues. “God knows how little 
I sleep, and at least if you, Mademoiselle, had made any noise 
it is not with your tongue. What shall we do with these beings 
who find nothing easier than to scale a wall? What do you 
intend to do, Monsieur ? To ruin a family, to disgrace them, 
those who have an honorable name-” But he suddenly dis¬ 

covers that the young man does not hear him either! He 
wrings his hands! He is distracted! 

But the young Marquis seizes the crayon and the piece of 
board and writes upon it— “I love Mile. Camille; I wish to 
marry her. I have 20,000 livres of rentes. Do you wish to 
give her to me?” 

Under these circumstances it only remained to consult the 
father, who, after much incredulity and some objection and 
after consulting with the cure of the village, yielded a reluctant 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


131 


consent. The wedding followed; one does not need to say that 
it was a quiet wedding. Pierre had studied the formulas and 
knew when to incline his head and make the sign of assent; 
Camille did not try to do anything or understand anything. 
She looked at her husband and bowed her head the same as he. 

The story goes on to describe their happiness, their beautiful 
surroundings and the education which was given to Camille 
by the good Abbott and his assistants. She learns to read and 
to write and to use the sign language. She writes a letter to 
her father and invites him to come to see her. She speaks of 
their anxiety about the little child whether he will be a deaf 
mute or an “entendant-parlant,” a speaking-hearing person. 
When her father at last comes, Camille runs to meet him and 
cannot restrain her tears, but the chevalier fixes his regard upon 
the child. He draws back when they present the little one to 
him and he exclaims with grief, “Another mute! ” 

But Camille took her little son in her arms, she placed her 
finger upon his lips, as if inviting him to speak. The child 
hesitated a moment, then pronounced very distinctly these two 
words which the mother had made him to learn in advance: 
“Bon-jou’, pa-pa.” 


The Sundial 

Backed by the yew-trees’ hues of night 
How richly glows the dial’s white; 

But skirted by nasturtiums gay 
How quiet is the dial’s gray. 

O who would not a dial be? 

To stand for centuries and see 

The trees, the grass, the garden flowers, 

And number only sunny hours. 



DR. BELL AND THE TELEPHONE 


Prof. A« Graham Bell, who has recently died, is known as 
the Friend of the Deaf. It was while searching for something 
to help deaf people that he discovered the principle of the tele¬ 
phone, and when he received the 50,000 francs prize for his 
invention of the telephone he gave the money to the Volta 
Bureau to assist deaf people. 

The Volta Bureau has a handsome large building in Wash¬ 
ington where all materials pertaining to deafness and all kinds 
of statistics and publications are preserved for reference. A 
magazine called The Volta Review is published especially for 
the deaf and for the purpose of distributing all kinds of knowl¬ 
edge which would help those whose hearing is impaired. 

Dr. Bell’s first work was in teaching speech to deaf children: 
he early observed that they could be taught to understand 
language by watching the lips. His wife had lost her hearing 
in childhood. He discouraged the use of signs which had been 
used in the Institutions for the deaf for many years and be¬ 
came convinced that the eyes could be trained to do the work. 
This interest of Dr. Bell’s has been an immense help to all deaf 
people and they owe to him a great debt of gratitude. 

Did you ever stop to think what it would be if you could not 
hear? You will say, “I cannot imagine it,” and you never 
could. No one would believe what a trial it is, without actual 
experience. When the deafness comes gradually, it is as if a 
wall were shutting you into a living grave, and when it comes 
suddenly all at once, even over night, as sometimes happens, 
there seems no remedy. 

It is a little remarkable that three different magazines this 
year have published articles founded on lip reading. Harper’s 
Magazine for March has a love story by Alice Brown, in which 
both the lovers are deaf. It is ridiculous and impossible, but 
it shows a kindly interest in the subject. The Atlantic for Janu¬ 
ary has a long psychological study by a deaf writer, and the 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


133 


March American has an article by Carolyn Wells giving some 
of her own experiences. If this continues, we shall have too 
much publicity, and even now, people are somewhat afraid of 
us, and think we read much better than we do—almost read 
their thoughts. 

But there are many things lip readers cannot do. It sounds 
rather absurd to say that we cannot read the lips if we cannot 
see them. We cannot read the back of your head, nor when 
you toss remarks over your shoulder, nor when you move your 
head from side to side; and yet, it is really encouraging and 
satisfying, sometimes, to have our friends do these things, for 
then we know we are making progress, and that our friends are 
beginning to forget that we are deaf. It is easier to read the 
lips directly in front than in profile; half profile is the usual 
position, and the one most to be desired. We can’t read lips in 
the dark; how many hours we spend keeping our thoughtless 
friends company on a dark veranda, or for many miles in a dark 
automobile! 

We are obliged to remind our friends again and again not to 
stand in front of a window when they speak to us. They see 
our faces so well that they do not realize that their own faces 
are in shadow. 

Just give us a good light, a natural speaker, and a little pa¬ 
tience, and you may be surprised sometime; but don’t expect too 
much. It is true that there are some people who do not seem 
to be able to learn to read the lips, just the same as there are 
some individuals who cannot learn to read books. Possibly this 
is for lack of proper training, or because they are not will¬ 
ing to learn, or to take the necessary time for it. Our Federal 
Government understood the importance of lip reading, for when 
several hundred soldiers returned from the Great War deaf¬ 
ened, helpless and discouraged, they were sent to the best teach¬ 
ers in the country to be taught. The Government obliged them 
to take the lessons. They were sometimes unwilling and unbe- 


134 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


lieving, but they took the course provided for them, and they 
learned—they had to—and they are returned to lives of useful¬ 
ness. 

Dr. Bell gave very much to the deaf, his life was spent in 
their service; deaf people would never wish to take away from 
hearing people such a convenience as the telephone is to them, 
but in inventing the telephone he placed upon all deaf people 
a heavy burden, one which nothing as yet has been able to lift. 
That awful question, “Can you hear the telephone ?” has soun¬ 
ded the death knell to many bright hopes. However, let us 
not be wholly discouraged. If we cannot hear well at the tele¬ 
phone, we can talk into the telephone, the other party can hear 
us, and with patience we may still use it. We know that many 
ingenious minds are working on these problems, and by and by 
even this burden may be lifted. 

The Telephone 

Deaf people should not be afraid to use the telephone. It is 
a great help to our lives, and it is worth some considerable effort 
to learn to use it; instead of yielding to the difficulty, we must 
try to overcome it. 

There is not so very much to hear at the telephone; the new 
automatic system of calling by means of a dial, is an immense 
step, in advance, and obviates the tiresome conversation with 
“Central.” We are surely able to talk at the phone, and we can 
give orders to the market, we can call the doctor, or plumber, 
without any trouble. 

Suppose we don't always understand what is said, this is not 
unusual, even with hearing people. Many times it is impossible 
for any one to hear, and yet they keep on trying, until finally 
they get the message through. 

Mark Twain was noted for his profanity, especially at the 
telephone, and some people have had to be threatened with re¬ 
moval of the instrument, because they were so insulting to the 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


135 


operator; and they were not deaf, either! Surely, we ought 
to be granted a little patience, and we should insist upon re¬ 
ceiving it. 

It is often very inconvenient for our friends to stop and 
telephone for us, they are so busy. We may have to wait for 
days. Besides this, we are obliged to explain our business to 
them in full, and if it is a member of our own family, we may 
have to stop and argue about it with them, which is very an¬ 
noying. Far better is it for us to be independent, to put our 
pride in our pockets, and train ourselves to use the phone. 

Begin with a friendly person, and tell her what you are try¬ 
ing to do, that you want to learn to use the phone without be¬ 
ing nervous. Then add another friend, and another, until you 
have a list of all you would usually call. 

From this small beginning you may obtain a list of all you 
would usually need to call. You will notice that the one you 
call will change his voice almost at once, because he will recog¬ 
nize your voice. If he does not, you may say, “I don’t hear very 
well, you know,” and it will serve as a reminder. It is wise 
to repeat what is said to you, to be sure that you have the 
message correctly, and if you have a little patience you will 
find the telephone a really good friend. 


A GREEK POEM 

When the wind on the gray salt sea blows softly, then my 
weary spirits rise, and the land no longer pleases me, and far 
more doth the calm allure me. 

But when the hoary deep is roaring, and the sea is broken 
up in foam, and the waves rage high, then lift I mine eyes unto 
the earth and trees, and fly the sea, and the land is welcome, 
and the shady wood well pleasing in my sight. 

Surely an evil life lives the fisherman, whose home is his 




136 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


ship, and his labours are in the sea, and fishes thereof are his 
wandering spoil. 

Nay, sweet to me is sleep beneath the broad leaved plane 
tree. Let me love to listen to the murmur of the brook hard 
by, soothing, not troubling, the husbandman with its sound. 

Moschus. 


THE WAY OF THE WHITE SOULS 

(To the memory of Joyce Kilmer, killed in action, July 30, 1918) 

I stood in the summer night, when the hosts of heaven seemed 
nigh, 

And I saw the powdery swirl of stars, where it swept across 
the sky, 

The wide way of the white stars, where it ran up and down, 

And my heart was sad for the man who said it was Main street, 
Heaventown. 

He chose to walk in the Main street, in the wide ways of men; 

He set wings to the common things with the kind touch of his 
pen; 

He caught the lilt of the old tune that the hearts of the plain 
folk beat; 

He might have dreamed on the far faint hills—but he walked 
in the Main street. 

He knelt down with his fellows, in the warm faith of the 
throng; 

He went forth with his fellows to fight a monstrous wrong; 

He marched away to the true tune that the hearts of brave men 

beat, 

Shoulder to brown shoulder, with the men in the Main street. 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


137 


A road runs bright through the night of Time, since ever the 
world began, 

The wide way of the white souls, the Main street of man, 

The sky-road of the star-souls, beyond all wars and scars; 

And there the singing soul of him goes on with the marching 
stars. 

So, as I stand in the summer night, when the hosts of heaven 
seem nigh. 

And look at the powdery swirl of stars, where it sweeps across 
the sky, 

The wide way of the white stars, where it runs up and down, 

My heart shall be glad for the friend who said, it was Main 
street, Heaventown. 

Helen Gray Cone in Scribner's Magazine. (By Permission) 


THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD 
A Motion Picture Play 

There is a play called, “The Silent Voice,” which has for its 
leading motive a knowledge of Lip reading. This play has 
been used in making a motion picture which is called “The Man 
who Played God.” It is a very interesting play, and was being 
shown in different theatres in Philadelphia all last winter. 

The scene is laid in Vienna, where a very handsome young 
musician is in the height of his fame. His instrument is the 
piano, and he is married to a beautiful girl, who adores him. 

He receives an invitation to play at the Court before 
the Emperor. He is delighted with this invitation, and the 
scene shows him and his beautiful wife being received by all 
the royalty. Everything goes very well; he is about to play, 
has taken his seat at the piano, and everyone is listening for 
his first notes when there is a loud explosion, which throws 
the room in darkness. The musician is thrown from his seat; 
the lights go out, and everything is in confusion. A bomb has 
been thrown into the palace. Gradually the lights come back, 
and the excitement subsides; but suddenly the artist puts his 
hands up to his ears, and he is shocked to find that he has lost 
the power of hearing. He has the sympathy of everyone, but 
he becomes distracted, and rushes off the stage with his wife 
following him, almost as distracted as he is. After this 
there are other scenes which show him maddened with his 
sufferings. Everything is changed for him. He has no pa¬ 
tience with anything or anybody, and his whole disposition is 
different. From being a courteous and affectionate husband 
he becomes surly and overbearing and ugly. He finds fault 
with everything and everybody, and will not adapt himself to 
his changed conditions. The wife is patient and willing to do 
everything possible, but is finally obliged to leave him alone 
with his old faithful servant. The servant is wise and patient 
and gradually begins to help him to read the lips. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


139 


The musician takes up lip reading very quickly and becomes 
wonderfully expert. This is unknown to his wife, and they 
still remain separate. 

One day he is sitting at his window, which overlooks a lovely 
park in a large city. He is watching an old couple who are 
walking slowly along. They seem to be sad, and the woman 
is weeping. 

Out of curiosity he takes his opera glass and watches them 
and as he watches them, he finds that he can read what they are 
saying. They are desperate. They cannot keep the poor home 
any longer, and must give it up and go to separate places, de¬ 
pendent upon charity. 

He watches their conversation, and he resolves to try to help 
them. He calls his servant, directs him to go down to make 
the acquaintance of these old people, to find out where they 
live, and ascertain in what way he can help them best. 

The servant goes all the more willingly because he is delighted 
to have his master becoming more interested in life, and in the 
following scenes both are shown visiting the old people in their 
home, and providing for their future. 

Again the deaf man sees a young couple, who are in some 
trouble. He watches their conversation, and again the servant 
goes and makes their happiness possible. 

So it goes on, and after a while he begins to know the true 
happiness which comes from making others happy. 

In the meantime, his wife has formed a friendship with a 
man who loves her, and who wishes to persuade her to leave 
her husband and to marry him. She is suffering and unhappy, 
but she remains true. 

Then, one day, he sees them come walking into the Park. He 
watches them eagerly, he sees the would-be lover making these 
proposals to his wife, telling her how useless it is for her to 
cling to such a man, who can never make her happy, and will 
only make her miserable. He watches it all with a bursting 


140 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


heart, but he reads the noble reply which his wife makes, and 
he returns to hope again. 

In the last scenes the deaf man is seen in an organ loft in 
a large cathedral. He is alone and it is dark. He wishes to 
touch the keys of the organ, and while in former times he 
would only touch them to pound them in anger, now he caresses 
them. 

As he leaves the organ he becomes confused, and acts like 
a blind man, slowly feeling his way around. He staggers, and 
all of a sudden he falls. He seems to have some unusual sen¬ 
sation in his head, for he throws his hands up to his ears, and 
he finds that his hearing has returned. So again, in the last 
scene we see him happy, with his hearing restored, united with 
his faithful wife and with his music, and the world is bright 
again. 


The play would have been more true to life, if it had ended 
on the high note taken, when he finds that his wife is faithful 
to him. To recover one’s hearing might happen once in a 
while, but not very often, and we who are deaf know how it is. 
We have a life sentence. 

The play might well show some of the difficulties which ac¬ 
company learning to read the lips: the long dull hours of re¬ 
peating foolish and apparently useless syllables and phrases; 
the struggle with different speakers, and the overpowering dis¬ 
couragement which often appears. We see nothing of this in 
the play—only, he has learned lip-reading and he makes good 
use of his knowledge. 

“Friends who are true friends will only love you the more, 
and no one who is worth having for a friend will think any the 
less of you.” We see this illustrated over and over. 

One very kind-hearted and generous man stated that her 
deafness was what attracted him chiefly towards his wife, when 
he first met her. He felt that he could help her, and could do 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


141 


something for her which no one else could do, and he loved 
her for that. We must adopt the noble motto of Sarah Bern¬ 
hardt, one which she adopted early in life and followed con¬ 
sistently: “Quand meme!” “In spite of all.” 


A VALENTINE PARTY 

I went to a Valentine Party last week. It was at the Speech 
Readers Guild at 339 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. It was 
a very pretty party. They had made a wooden frame and cov¬ 
ered it with lace paper and red hearts. The center was an oval 
and the pictures were copies of old valentines. 

There were six tableaux. No. 1 was Evangeline and Gabriel. 
No. 2 was Katherine and Petruccio from “The Taming of the 
Shrew.” No. 3 was Romeo and Juliet. No. 4 was Robin 
Hood and Maid Marian. No. 5 was John Alden and Priscilla. 
No. 6 was Dante and Beatrice. 

Before the tableaux, a young lady, dressed in white crimped 
paper trimmed with hearts and red streamers, came in front of 
the curtain and held up two iars filled with small red sugar 
hearts. She asked everyone to guess how many were in each 
bottle and the one who guessed the nearest was to have the 
whole. There were 241. The second bottle she ofifered in the 
same way, and all guessed again, but come to find out it was 
241 also, but no one had guessed that. 

Before the tableaux, a lady from Dorchester read a very in¬ 
teresting account of the origin of the Valentine. They were 
first made in this country by a young lady who lived in Wor¬ 
cester, Mass., in 1847. Pier name was Esther Howland. She 
was a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College. Her father was a 
dealer in books and stationery, and she often helped him in his 
work. 

In the shop, in that year, she found a sort of a Valentine 



142 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


which came from Germany; she admired it very much and tried 
to make one like it. This one was so much admired, that she 
made more, improving on them all the time, and she found they 
had a ready sale. She sent to New York for lace paper and 
materials and a market was soon created for them, until she 
could not make enough to supply the demand. The business 
grew till she was having an income of many thousands a year. 
Mt. Holyoke is very proud of her memory. 

At this Valentine Party there were a good many Valentines 
on exhibition fastened to screens and under glass, and a num¬ 
ber of the funny verses were read. After the exhibition, tea 
was served. 

The Tableaux were as follows: 

No. 1.—Evangeline and Gabriel. These two lovers lived in a 
part of Nova Scotia called Acadia. It was French property, 
and when the English took possession of Nova Scotia, the 
French nation obliged the French to leave and to go to the 
French possessions in Louisiana. Gabriel was a fine young 
fellow, and he and Evangeline were betrothed. He was to go to 
their new country and she was to follow him later. They be¬ 
came separated, and she wandered from one place to another 
trying to find him. A description of her wanderings, when she 
often came very near him, but just a little too late, until at the 
last she found him when he lay dying, is found in a long poem 
written by Henry W. Longfellow. Many people now visit 
Nova Scotia for the sake of seeing Evangeline’s Country, as 
it is called. 

No. 2. The story of Katherine and Petruccio was illustrated 
by a very savage looking lover and a horrified looking lady. 
This is taken from Shakespeare’s play in which a bad-tempered 
girl is starved, scolded, and brow beaten by a brute of a hus¬ 
band until she is willing to become what he thinks a wife 
should be. They struggle for a while but finally become united, 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


143 


and Katherine sees the folly of her ill-tempered ways. She 
declares to her friends, that, 

“Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, 

Thy head, thy sovereign; one who cares for thee, 

And for thy maintenance; commits his body 
To painful labor, both by sea and land; 

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold, 

While thou liest warm at home, secure and safe, 

And craves no other tribute at thy hands 
But love, fair looks, and true obedience,— 

Too little payment for so great a debt.” 

No. 3. Romeo was impersonated by a handsome dark young 
lady in a black velvet costume with wide silk sash, and Juliet 
was a beautiful fair girl decked with pearls and a pearl head 
dress. 

No. 4. Robin Hood was in green with an archery costume, 
and Maid Marian a pretty country girl. 

No. 5. John Alden was the stern Puritan lover, and Pris¬ 
cilla in white cap and gray gown was the demure maiden who 
could make a roguish reply when necessary. 

No. 6. Dante was in black with a hood and cloak, the image 
of melancholy. He was being led through Paradise and Pur¬ 
gatory by the hand—by sweet Beatrice—a lovely girl with 
long braided hair. 

The story of Esther Howland was told by Miss H. Eugenia 
Bruce, whose family were personally acquainted with Miss 
Howland. 


From a Sun Dial 

I mark Time’s rapid flight 
From Life’s glad morning to its solemn Night, 
But by the dear God’s love I also show 
The light above me by the shade below. 



What Deaf People Can Do to Make It Easier for Them¬ 
selves and Their Friends 

There is a proverb which says: “Have you a friend? Do 
not let the grass grow between you and your friend.” We 
must remember that we are dependent upon our friends for 
much of our happiness. If we allow them to forget us, we are 
the losers; but if we show ourselves friendly by kind and 
gentle ways, we may be able to keep the friends we have and 
add to their number even after we have lost our aural sense. 
In looking back over a long life with steadily progressive 
deafness, a lady declared that all her best friends had come 
to her through her being hard of hearing, and she had had 
many friends. 

The advice of Shakespeare is to be remembered: 

“The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.” 

Keep all your friends. Make all the acquaintances you pos¬ 
sibly can, for from these acquaintances are to come your new 
friends. And in order to make friends you must be open and 
friendly. Be friendly with every one, and do not be afraid to 
show your love. Be appreciative of their good qualities. Do 
not go out of your way to flatter, but when they do something 
that you admire, say so. “A little praise, goes a great ways.” 
And let them help you, too. It is by doing for others that love 
is developed, and with the pity they feel for you, will come 
love. 

In the stories which are quoted in this book, the characters 
of the deaf people are represented as being angelic: they have 
no faults; they are always sweet tempered and patient and 
good. This is far from being the case in real life. Deaf people 
are constantly annoyed by not hearing and it is very trying to 
the patience and to the nerves. It is hard for their friends and 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


145 


families but infinitely harder for them. They realize that they 
are exasperating, that they seem contrary and stubborn and 
ill-mannered, that they are often inattentive and are always 
interrupting and making blunders, and they don’t enjoy it. 
They are afraid to ask questions, and yet they are obliged to 
or to be kept in ignorance. Their questions seem ridiculous 
and out of place, and often are answered so hurriedly and care¬ 
lessly that they get no information at all. They are obliged to 
change their dispositions completely in order to adapt them¬ 
selves to the life they now must lead. At first, they try to pre¬ 
tend that they hear when they do not, then follow awful blun¬ 
ders and roars of laughter from those around them. The joke 
will be repeated many times, always with much amusement to 
those who hear; but alas! not to the poor sufferer. It is fun 
for the boys to throw the stones, but death to the frogs. If, 
after such an experience, they decide that it is better to an¬ 
nounce their deafness at once, they find that no one will speak 
to them, that people deliberately avoid them, that if they begin 
a subject of conversation, it is grasped immediately by those 
around them and their effort is wasted, it drifts away. It was 
their subject. They wanted to be included in the discussion, but 
no one considers it, or thinks it worth while to enlighten them. 

Deaf people do not like to shut themselves away from every¬ 
body. They do not want to mope, they do not want to be ac¬ 
cused of having false pride, of being too self-conscious, of be¬ 
ing over-sensitive; all these things they have to avoid. They 
become timid, self-denying, forgiving, patient. They become 
afraid of “what people will think,” and life becomes too diffi¬ 
cult if they are not careful. If, under these circumstances, they 
become sarcastic and bitter, suspicious and jealous, selfish and 
shirking of their duties, no one can wonder; the wonder is 
that they do not. For it is true they are seldom disagreeable. 
The tears which are shed are hidden, the sad heart conceals its 
grief. 


146 Lip Reading Made Easy 

Here is where character develops. Remember the words 
of the rhymer: 

“If all the world has gone to pot 
And business is on the bum, 

A ten-cent grin and a lifted chin, 

Help some, my boy, help some! ” 

The smile and the brave face will carry one over many diffi¬ 
cult situations. Do not be too demonstrative. Husband your 
strength and your nervous force. If you cannot join in the 
conversation, just think that there are others who cannot do so, 
for only one is able to speak at once, and there will not be time 
for all to talk. A dignified silence is better. 

Deaf people should avoid being in the dark. They should 
keep a flashlight within reach. They should not walk alone in 
the night, or move about alone. 

When walking, they should be careful to keep on the left 
of the road, for in this way they are able to see what is com¬ 
ing in front of them, and step aside. They should not walk 
on a railroad, it has been called “The Deaf Man's Highway.” 

At street crossings and in crowded streets do not be the 
first one to cross. Follow the crowd. It is impossible to look 
in all directions and sometimes there is no traffic officer. Stand 
still, and then move with others. Do not run or dodge. Do not 
try to talk or listen when walking on the street with anyone. 
It is better not to walk with anyone if it can be avoided. Tell 
your friends you cannot do it. If you are with others, you will 
be afraid you will not hear what they say, and will find your¬ 
self talking against time; or your companion will be talking and 
you will be obliged to stop and listen, perhaps may have to take 
out your hearing instrument. Far better is it to say to your 
friend: “You go on—I will meet you there.” Besides this, if 
you are talking you become interested in what you are saying 
and may become careless. Many accidents are caused in this 
way. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


14 7 


Be careful when entering doors which open towards you, 
and never stand in front of such a door. You will not hear 
anyone who is approaching and may have a serious accident. 
Be careful also about bursting through a door, yourself. 

Study to be quiet. Remember that you do not hear noise. 
Be quiet at table; don’t rattle dishes or implements. Ask your 
friends to warn you about it. Learn to walk quietly. Cultivate 
an agreeable voice. Watch to see if people are straining to hear 
you. Do not mumble. Do not shout. Train the speaking 
voice. 

Never turn your back to people and walk away when you are 
talking or when they are talking. Wait till the conversation is 
finished. 

When walking away from anyone, glance back to be sure 
no one’s calling you. People very often think of something 
else they want to say, and it is very embarrassing to have them 
shouting and running after you. 

Avoid a stern and brusque manner. A pleasant and kindly 
bearing helps our friends very much. Especially cultivate sym¬ 
pathy. From not being able to hear the sounds of suffering, 
deaf people become apparently cold. They cannot sympathize 
with what they do not know, therefore they should be more 
than ready to assist when they can hear. 

Sometimes you will inquire what is being discussed and will 
find it is something very near your own heart. This is your 
opportunity to show self-control. Be sure not to give your 
own opinion. Remember you were not included in the dis¬ 
cussion and your opinion was not sought. You have intruded 
yourself into the conversation and are included as a favor to 
you. Do not express yourself unless you are invited to do so, 
and then be very careful. Find out what others have said—and 
avoid leading a discussion further. It is better to thank your 
informant and let it pass. If we ask too many times, we shall 
find that the informant may refuse or may not tell us just what 


148 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


it is. May even fabricate for our special benefit. When alone 
with one or two, it is fortunate if one can be ready with a comi¬ 
cal little story, but be careful in a large company or you may 
repeat what already has been said. 

It is particularly desirable for deaf people to dress well and 
be attractive to the eye. It is a pleasure they may enjoy with 
hearing people. They may be ready with jolly times, picnics 
and games. They may cultivate out-of-door life. They may 
have gardens and be generous with their flowers and vegetables. 
They may learn fine cooking and make nice cakes and candies, 
and may become very popular in this way. They may be ready 
with little kindnesses, and they may search for other hard-of- 
hearing people, and try to add something to their lives. As a 
rule, deaf people avoid other deaf people, and look upon them 
with aversion, but after a while, it becomes a pleasure to see 
what others are doing. Do not forget how much pleasure there 
is in studying pictures and art in art galleries and museums 
and private collections. 

There are a few simple rules of politeness which it is well 
for deaf people to remember at all times. If they expect their 
friends to regard these rules they should certainly observe them 
themselves. 

They should avoid speaking of their own peculiarities, 
whether agreeable ones or otherwise, and should not refer to 
themselves or to their deafness. 

They should never say unpleasant or disagreeable things 
when it is possible to avoid them. They should beware of 
fault-finding and also of arguing. 

They should not dispute at all, and should avoid always 
being in the right! As the rule of business is to think “the 
customer is always right,” they should consider hearing people 
as if they were their customers to whom they wished to sell 
themselves, and whom they wished to please. When asking 
for information they should not forget to make a slight 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


149 


apology; they should remember it is a favor they are asking 
and the favor will be granted the more easily if it is made 
agreeable to them to do so. 

Be careful to avoid difficult situations. A lady was appointed 
by her club to attend a conference. It was a luncheon, also. 
She went to the luncheon at twelve o’clock and remained in her 
seat till five. She watched the happy people all around her, 
and she was one of the last ones called upon to make her report 
for her club. Of the seventy-five or more who reported, she 
did not hear one word, nor of the leader: no one spoke to her, 
and from her acute sense of duty she endured the strain. What 
might have been a pleasure to some one else was, to her, only 
pain. By all means, we should avoid such situations. 

We should have resources in ourselves, and not depend too 
much upon others. Do not let people think that we must be 
entertained. Learn not to mind being alone. Learn to be 
content and happy, with but a small amount of attention. Keep 
ahead of your friends as much as possible. Learn to do what 
other people are doing—if it is Bridge—and you enjoy it—play 
Bridge; if Mah Jong—that also. Enjoy what others are en¬ 
joying. “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them 
that weep.” Rejoice emphatically, and weep enough so that 
it will be recognized. Hiding our feelings so much as we are 
obliged to every day and all the time, when we have a good 
opportunity, let us express them well. 

Deaf people never hear the human voice quite naturally. It 
is bound to be harsh and strained, and more or less unpleasant 
as it comes to them. For this reason, their friends should be 
careful to make their words pleasant. 

We read the words, and can see the expression of your face. 
If it seems cheerful and kind, we do not mind about how the 
voice sounds. All the pleasant modulations of the lovely voices 
of our friends are lost to us; but if there is a snapping, surly or 
savage tone, it is very penetrating, and an impatient, sarcastic 
voice never seems to fail to reach us. 


150 Lip Reading Made Easy 

A cutting remark cuts twice as deeply with a hard-of-hearing 
person, as it does with one who can hear. 

Some one said to a patient “saint on earth,” who was strug¬ 
gling to carry her cross bravely, that hearing people are cruel 
to deaf people. She did not attempt to deny it, as her eyes 
filled, but she said, smilingly, “We must be charitable to them. 
They don’t realize!” It was the true spirit of Christ. “Forgive 
them. They know not what they do!” 

Deaf people are very sensitive to vibrations and percussions. 
During a long illness a lady had occasion to notice this in many 
ways. She would consider herself alone in the house: suddenly 
she would notice that a picture hanging on the wall was tremb¬ 
ling ever so slightly; it told her that something was moving 
about, and soon some one came in. She would feel a door 
slam. She would hear a latch click or a key rattle; this, very 
distinctly, so much so that she provided a key on a cord to be 
used for knocking outside her door. She felt every step on 
the floor of her room, even the lightest footfall, and the least 
touch of her bed. 

She observed shadows and reflections. Her door was of 
varnished wood, and when opened served as a mirror, which 
told her when anyone passed in the next room. At her sum¬ 
mer house she arranged a long mirror by which she could look 
from her bed, through a passage way into her kitchen, and 
watch the processes going on there. She could even read the 
lips of people who were there, and carry on conversations, and 
watch people going in and out. 

She found that she could telegraph by the use of (the 
radiator at the head of her bed, and with a hammer the 
knocking could be heard in any part of the house. By means 
of this she arranged a simple code, and saved many steps for 
her family. 

She became very sensitive to odors, all her senses trying to 
supply the missing one, and the sense of smell was often very 
useful. All these little things it is well to remember. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


151 


It is never safe to sit with the back to the door. Have your 
desk arranged so as to see the entrance to the room, and keep 
your face that way. If there is a window, have the window 
at your back, and the light at your left. Then, your caller’s 
face will be open to you. This gives you a great advantage. 

Above all things, cultivate a sense of humor. There is not 
one thing funny about being deaf. It is not amusing to any¬ 
one, but other things are funny, and we surely may enjoy these. 
Josh Billings had the right idea. 

From Josh Billings’ Old Farmer's Allminax for April, 1875 

“Fun iz the cheapest fisick that haz bin diskovered yet, and 
the eazyest to take. Fun pills are sugar coated, and no change 
ov diet iz necessary while taking them. A little fun will sum- 
times go a grate ways. I hav known men to liv to a good old 
age on one joke, which they managed to tell az often az once 
a day, and do all the laflfing themselves besides that waz done. 
But there iz lots ov pholks who kant see enny phun in enny 
thing. Yu couldn’t fire a joke into them with a double barrell 
gun, 10 paces off. They go thru life az solium az a cow. Menny 
people think it iz beneath their dignity to relish a joke; sutch 
people are simply fools, and don’t seem to kno it. The Billings 
family are allwuss on the lookout for fun. It is said ov Dexter 
Billings, one ov our pristines, that he had to be kept under 500 
dollar bonds all the time, to keep him from laffing in church. 
Ackordin to all ackounts, this Dexter Billings was a cuss. Fun 
is the pepper and salt ov every day life, and all the really wiz 
men who hav ever lived hav used it freely for seasoning.” 


RUSSIAN FABLES 


The following fables are Russian versions of well-known 
stories. They are translated literally from the Russian by 
Nevill Forbes. The Russian language has no articles, either 
definite or indefinite, and very few prepositions, but it is amus¬ 
ing to see how well the meaning may be expressed without these 
small words: 

Peasant and Bear 

Made-friends bear with peasant, and took-it-into-their- 
heads they together turnips to sow. Peasant said: For me root 
and for thee, Michael, top. Grew-up glorious turnips. Peas¬ 
ant took for himself roots, and to Michael gave-up tops. 
Grumbled a bit, Michael, but to do there was nothing. 

On next year says peasant to bear: “let us again together 
sow.” “Let us! only thou for thyself take tops, and to me give 
up roots,” urges Michael. “Right! ” answers peasant, “let it be 
according to thy”—and he sowed wheat. Good wheat came 
forth: peasant got tops, and Michael roots. 

Since those times on the part of bear with peasant also 
friendship asunder. 

Two Peasants 

Peasant is carting cartload of hay, and another is coming on 
to meeting. “Good day! ” “Good day! ” “And what art 
carting?” “Wood fuel.” “What sort of wood fuel? For 
with thee hay.” “But if thou seest that hay, then why too 
dost ask ? ” 

Simple-Souled Old Woman 

Was driving peasant along big road and perceived old woman 
who was carrying on back heavy load. Peasant begged her to 
sit down into cart. Old woman willingly agreed. Dro\e on 
they about half-verst, peasant noticed that old woman ever yet 
was holding load on shoulders. “Why then thou, grannie, 
not didst place load into cart ? ” 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


153 


“Oh, dear my,” answered old woman. “Enough too of that 
that I myself am sitting in cart, why then burden it further 
with my load ? ” 

Peasant and Hare 

Was going poor peasant across clean field, perceived big 
hare, rejoiced, and then says: “Behold God me big happiness 
gives! Shall-just-go-and-steal-up to this hare, shall kill him 
with stick and shall sell for rouble. On this money shall buy 
young sow; she will bring me twelve sucking-pigs. Sucking- 
pigs will grow up and will bring yet at the rate of twelve suck¬ 
ing-pigs each. These sucking-pigs shall kill, meat shall sell, 
and on forthcoming money shall get married and proper home 
shall start—that indeed will be living! ” 

At this peasant so loudly cried out, that hare took fright and 
ran off. 


Two Peasants 

Were driving two peasants, one to town, other out of town. 
They met on narrow road. One cries: “Give road; to me to 
town to hurry it is necessary!” 

And other cries: “Thou give road: to me to home to hurry 
it is necessary!” 

Thus they a long time disputed. This perceived third peas¬ 
ant and said: “To whom to hurry it is necessary, that one draw 
back!” 



THE STORY OF DOCTOR MARIGOLD 


Condensed from Charles Dickens 

The story of Doctor Marigold was written by Charles Dick¬ 
ens and was used in his readings when he came to this country. 
It is an affecting story—and describes the condition of the deaf 
no longer ago than in 1860. By writing as he did there is no 
doubt that Dickens called attention to the injustice under which 
they were suffering—and helped materially towards an im¬ 
provement of their condition. The story is told by a travelling 
‘‘Cheap Jack,” what we should call a Tin Peddler. He relates 
his life and what happens to him. He begins by saying that he 
was named Doctor after the doctor who brought him into the 
world, and the whole story has a quietly amusing vein of 
fun. He is a cheerful good fellow and auctions off his wares 
with a very good temper. He describes his wife: he says she 
“wasn’t a bad wife, but she had a temper,” and her temper 
spoils everything. He says “We might have had such a pleas¬ 
ant life! ” “The worst of it was, we had a daughter born to 
us, and I love children with all my heart.” The wife would 
beat the child in her furies, and he could not prevent it, and it 
broke his heart. 

After a while little Sophy became ill with fever, and turned 
away from her mother. The poor Doctor held her in his arms, 
while standing on his cart trying to sell his goods to earn the 
money they needed so much—and Sophy dies while he is jok¬ 
ing and talking. He staggers back into the wagon, his wife 
says “What’s the matter ? ” O woman, woman,” I tells her, 
“You’ll never catch my little Sophy by her hair again, for she’s 
dead, and has flown away from you! ” 

The story proceeds, his wife loses her reason and is found 
in the river, and the Doctor and his dog go on alone. He says 
that, sometimes he had “dreadful lonely feelings after this and 
that they got him in private and rolled on him.” 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


155 


One day he became acquainted with a travelling giant. His 
name was “Pickleson, although called Rinaldo di Velasco.” 
The giant told him that his life was made a burden to him by 
the cruelty of his master towards a step-daughter who was deaf 
and dumb. “Her mother was dead, and she had no living soul 
to take her part, and was used most hard.” 

When Doctor hears this and likewise that the poor girl had 
beautiful long hair and was often pulled down by it and beaten, 
he is ready to weep. He goes and finds her leaning up against 
a muddy cart-wheel, much neglected and uncared for. He 
buys her from her master for a pair of braces and takes her 
away with him. 

“It was happy days for both of us when Sophy and me began 
to travel in the cart.” He names her after his own little 
daughter. “We soon made out to begin to understand one 
another through the goodness of Heavens, when she knowed 
that I meant true and kind to her,” and the lonely feelings that 
got him down and rolled on him before now passed away. He 
begins to teach her the names of things, in much the same 
way as Hellen Keller began. He makes the large letters spell 
words like CART, and then chalks the name on the cart. He 
spells DOCTOR MARIGOLD and hangs the card around 
his neck. She caught the idea after long patience and trouble; 
they made up many signs and she proved very intelligent. 

When she was about sixteen he began to feel that he had 
not done his whole duty by her, so he took her to London to the 
Deaf and Dumb Establishment. Here they make a good friend 
of the gentleman in charge. The gentleman is astonished to 
see how much he has taught her. “This is very extraordinary,” 
says the gentleman. “Is it possible you have been her only 
teacher? Then, you’re a clever fellow, and a good fellow.” 
The gentleman asks him what he wants her to know, to which 
Doctor Marigold responds, “I want her, sir, to be cut off from 
the world as little as can be considering her deprivations.” 

He leaves her at the school for two years. He is lonely, but 


156 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


not so lonely as before, and those feelings do not roll on him 
as they used to. He goes over the country and he sings to 
himself: 

“North and South and West and East, 

Wind’s liked best and winds liked least. 

Here and there and gone astray, 

Over the hills and far away.” 

After the two years she comes back to him. He has built a 
second cart on purpose for her, and lined it with books. He 
has made a book for her called “Doctor Marigold’s Prescrip¬ 
tions,” full of his quaint ideas and philosophy, and they begin 
to be happy together again. 

But one night he happens to meet the good-natured giant, 
“Pickleson by name, called Rinaldo di Velasco.” He tells the 
giant all about his good fortune and how happy they are now 
going to be. Doctor had felt so much obligation to Pickleson 
that he had put him down in his will for a five-pound note, but 
on this night to save trouble he gives him “four punten” down, 
to settle the matter. 

This makes them both very happy. But the giant says to 
him, “Doctor Marigold, who is the strange young man that 
hangs about your carts ? ” This puts the Doctor out of sorts. 
He watches and finds that there is a strange young man hang¬ 
ing about the carts every night. “I sent a hail after him; but 
he never started nor looked round, nor took the smallest notice.” 

He discovers that the young man is also deaf and dumb; he 
infers that she has become acquainted with the young man at 
her school, and he says to himself, “If she favors him, when* 
am I, and where is all that I have worked and planned for ? ” 

The good man, however, determines to find out what her 
feelings are. He finds her crying. He says— 

“You have been crying, my dear.” 

“Yes, Father.” 

“Why?” 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


15 7 


“A headache.” 

“Not a heartache?” 

“I said a headache, Father.” 

“Doctor Marigold must prescribe for that headache.” 

She takes up his book of Prescriptions, but he said: 

“The prescription is not there, Sophy.” 

“Where is it?” 

“Here, my dear.” 

I brought her young husband in, and I put her hand in his, 
and I said “Doctor Marigold’s last prescription. To be taken 
for life.” 

Sophy marries the young man and they go away to China. 
They are gone for five years. Many letters pass between 
them; a little daughter is born. He hints a question about the 
child, whether she can hear, but Sophy does not answer, so 
he concludes the worst. Finally, one Christmas, he jogs up to 
London, to make himself comfortable for the holiday in Sophy’s 
special cart. He describes the Christmas-eve dinner he pre¬ 
pares for himself. 

“I knocked up a beefsteak pudding for one, with two kid¬ 
neys, a dozen oysters, and a couple of mushrooms thrown in. 
Its a pudding to put a man in good humor with everything, 
except the two bottom buttons of his waistcoat.” 

As he sits there before the fire, half dozing, he thinks Sophy 
is by him; he thinks he hears a child’s step on the stair by the 
cart. He thinks it is the ghost of his own little child. 

But a real child opens the door and looks in, a real child 
with large dark eyes. 

“Looking full at me, the tiny creature took off her mite of a 
hat, and a quantity of dark curls fell all about her face. Then 
she opened her lips and said in a pretty voice, “Grandfather! ” 

“Ah my God! ” I cried out. “She can speak! ” 

“In a moment Sophy was round my neck as well as the 
child, and her husband was a-wringing my hand, with his face 


158 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


hid, and we all had to shake ourselves together before we could 
get over it. And when we did begin to get over it, and I saw 
the pretty child a-talking, pleased and quick and eager and busy, 
to her mother, in the signs I had first taught her mother, the 
happy yet pitying tears fell rolling down my face.” 


WINTER’S TURNING 
By Amy Lowell 

[By permission of the author and of Houghton Mifflin Co., Publishers] 

Snow is still on the ground, 

But there is a golden brightness in the air. 

Across the river, 

Blue, 

Blue, 

Sweeping widely under the arches 
Of many bridges, 

Is a spire and a dome, 

Clear as though ringed with ice flakes, 

Golden and pink and jocund. 

On a near-by steeple, 

A golden weather cock flashes smartly, 

His open beak “Cock-a-doodle-dooing,” 

Straight at the ear of Heaven. 

A tall apartment house, 

Crocus-coloured, 

Thrusts up from the street 
Like a new-sprung flower. 

Another street is edged and patterned 
With the bloom of bricks, 

Houses and houses of rose-red bricks, 

Every window a-glitter. 

The city is a parterre, 

Blowing and glowing, 

A-light with the wind, 

Washed over with gold and mercury. 


160 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


Let us throw up our hats, 

For we are past the age of balls 
And have none handy. 

Let us take hold of hands, 

And race along the sidewalks. 

Let us whir with the golden spoke-wheels 
Of the sun. 

For to-morrow Winter drops into the waste-basket, 
And the calendar calls it March. 

For purposes of study, this beautiful poem has been spaced 
into phrases, each phrase making a picture by itself. 

We can enjoy this poem especially because we do not have 
to hear anything. All is quiet. There is no rushing or roar¬ 
ing—or pounding. Even the river only sweeps. We do not 
have to imagine a noise for there is none—and yet we can 
enjoy it. The words are definite, short and expressive; the 
pictures which the phrases make are natural ones. The first 
phrase shows the brown earth with patches of white snow and 
with yellow sunshine in the early morning light; the second 
the blue river flowing quietly along under dark shadowy 
bridges. By the river are churches and domes, all shining 
in the morning light which is so clear and sparkling a touch of 
pink is given in the distance. 

We are up high, and as we stand gazing over this landscape 
and looking down on the street we see yellow blocks of houses 
full of bright windows, and we see the red of the bricks in the 
sidewalks. There is a suggestion of tulips—red and yellow 
tulips and yellow jonquils blowing about in the bright air, for 
the city is called a flower garden. Everything is shining with 
gold. The poem breathes an air of expectancy, of something 
good which is coming or which has come. The weather cock 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


161 


is crowing about it. He opens his mouth and shouts it out to 
the world, yet he is making no sound! Everything is shining, 
glistening, and prophesying of some great thing which is going 
to happen. 

We are so happy about it that we want to run; we want to 
play with balls and balloons; we want to join with the sun and 
ride around with him: because to-morrow it is coming, the long- 
waited-for turning of winter—the coming of Spring. - 


For a Sun-dial 

Shadow and sun, so too our lives are made, 
Think how great the sun, how small the shade. 


Watch and Pray, 
Time steals away. 


While you have time, do good. 


No shadow without sun. 


Make time save time. 







HIDE AND SEEK 


By Wilkie Collins 

This is a very interesting study of the development of a little 
deaf girl who is found by the side of the road with her dying 
mother. She is only a month old and her mother dies without 
telling who she is or her name. She says that the baby’s name 
is Mary and leaves nothing by which she could be traced but a 
beautiful hair bracelet set in gold with two initials on it. 

The baby is adopted by a clown in a circus and his wife, Mrs. 
Peckover. They become very fond of the child, who grows 
to be wonderfully beautiful, is very bright and witty, and learns 
to do little card tricks to amuse the audiences. She learns to 
assist the bare-back rider and is passionately fond of it, but 
one day there is an accident, the rider falls, little Mary slips 
out of his hand and is nearly killed. This happens when Mary 
is about seven years old. She recovers from her accident, but 
has lost her hearing and also her throat is paralyzed so that she 
can only speak with great effort. She gives up trying to speak 
and so becomes actually deaf and dumb, but she retains her 
happy, cheerful disposition, and returns to her little arts in the 
circus, being advertised as “The Mysterious Foundling! Aged 
ten years !! Totally deaf and dumb !!! ” While here she is 
found by a middle-aged man, who is an artist, and is much at¬ 
tracted by her beautiful face and manner. He takes her atten¬ 
tion while she is performing one of her tricks so that she 
makes a mistake and he overhears her scream as the brutal 
manager of the circus is beating her when she goes behind 
the curtain. From this the artist introduces himself behind 
the scenes, interviews Peckover, and makes her promise to 
bring the child to the Rectory the next day; which she does. 

In a short time the artist has adopted her into his family. 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


163 


His wife, being a confirmed invalid, is as much pleased with the 
child as he is, and Little Mary becomes their own. From her 
resemblance to one of Raphael’s Madonnas she is called “Ma¬ 
donna, and as that really means “My lady,” it becomes her 
name. 

The story goes on, and after a while, when she is 23 years 
old, her family is discovered through the medium of the hair 
bracelet. 

What interests us particularly is the development of the 
character of Madonna after losing her hearing. The author 
considers this as the first attempt in English fiction to portray 
this character. Probably he was familiar with the French story 
of “Pierre et Camille,” which has been told in this volume. 
He says, in a footnote, “I know of nothing which more firmly 
supports our faith in the better parts of human nature than 
to see with what patience and cheerfulness the heavier bodily 
afflictions of humanity are borne by those afflicted; and also to 
note what elements of kindness and gentleness the sight of 
these afflictions develops in the persons of the little circle by 
which the sufferer is surrounded. Here is the ever bright side, 
the ever noble and consoling aspect of all human calamity.” 

The child brought fresh life into her new home. Here were 
two chief members of one little family circle, afflicted by such 
incurable bodily calamity as it falls to the lot of but few human 
beings to suffer, but life here was still greater than its greatest 
trials; strong to conquer by its self-sacrificing devotion to the 
happiness and anxieties of others.” 

Little Madonna is educated in the manual art of conversing 
with the fingers and had already learned to read and write be¬ 
fore her accident. She learned to draw, paint and to love 
Nature; she had a gift for drollery and for entertaining and 
could imitate everything she saw, so that her family were often 
laughing at her sallies. Her only fear was of being alone in 
the dark, and this was a real terror. She says: “You, who can 


164 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


hear, have a sense to serve you, instead of sight, in the dark. 
I hear nothing, and see nothing. I lose all my senses together 
in the dark.” 

The author has woven this fear into one of the best scenes 
in the book, where the robber is caught stealing the hair brace¬ 
let, and Madonna comes into the dark room carrying a lighted 
candle. She does not see him or hear him, and the robber who 
is really her uncle, steals close enough to blow out her candle, 
and she becomes helpless. 

The story was first published in 1861. Later a new edition 
was dedicated to the American People in 1873, and published 
by Harper Brothers. 


Let me go where’er I will, 

I hear a sky-born music still. 

It sounds from all things old, 

It sounds from all things young, 

From all that’s fair, from all that’s foul 
Peals out a cheerful song, 

It is not only in the rose, 

It is not only in the bird, 

Not only where the rainbow glows, 

Nor in the song of woman heard, 

But in the darkest, meanest things 
There alway, alway something sings. 

R. W. Emerson. 



“ EAVESDROPPING ” 


After we have obtained a knowledge of lip-reading, we are 
saved from that awful feeling of helplessness and incapacity 
which formerly possessed us. We no longer hesitate to ask 
questions; we seek to do it, and it becomes a very interesting 
and amusing game. We no longer have to fight the world’s 
battles unarmed; we have been through the School of Hard 
Knocks and we know how to receive them and also we know 
how to give them! We are armed with a good strong weapon, 
which even to be suspected of carrying, strikes fear. No longer 
need we shrink and cringe and hide. We stand erect, emanci¬ 
pated and unafraid. 

We shall not mind when we see people say “She is deaf,” 
for we shall see them add, “but she reads the lips.” If by any 
chance we see them also add, “She reads everything; you must 
look out,” we only hope it is true, and dismiss it with a smile. 

When we see them covering their lips with the hand or turn¬ 
ing their faces away from us, we may laugh to ourselves and 
rejoice that they think we can read so well. 

Then comes the question of eavesdropping. It is a fine 
question—one to be decided often. Are we justified in trying 
to follow everything which is said before us? Shall we read 
only that which is addressed to us directly? Are we eaves¬ 
dropping when we strive to read everything? I say “No.” 
If we were trying to learn a foreign language and living in a 
foreign country we should not hesitate to read everything we 
came across. How are we to know that it is something not 
intended for us? Everything is grist that comes to our mill. 
If you are rude enough to be saying something before us 
which you do not want us to understand—so much the worse 
for you, if we do understand it! Perhaps you won’t make that 
mistake again. 

Therefore to the lip-reader we say, “Let us pass through 
the world with our eyes very wide open. Do not hesitate to be 


166 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


disagreeable if necessary. Read—read all you can. Deaf 
people and their ear trumpets have been a subject for ridicule 
long enough. At last we have a weapon. Let us use it, use 
it all the time, and at every time that we have the opportunity.” 


A TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST PART OF THE 
KORAN 

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate! 
Praise be to Allah, Who the three worlds made! 

The Merciful, the Compassionate! 

The King of the Day of Fate! 

Thee alone do we worship and of Thee alone do we ask aid! 
Guide us to the path that is straight— 

The path of those to whom thy love is great, 

Not those on whom is hate, 

Nor they that deviate. Amen. 



THE DEAFENED ADULT IN RELATION TO THE 
CHURCH 


The majority of deafened persons sooner or later discontinue 
church going; and this is a real loss, not only to themselves, 
but to the Church, and to their better natures. It is certainly 
discouraging and depressing to sit quietly through a fifteen 
minutes’ prayer or a forty minutes’ sermon, to feel that all 
the others are listening to something they enjoy while we are 
shut out, and after such an experience one may be too ex¬ 
hausted nervously to attempt it again. 

Perhaps the imagination has something to do with what we 
suffer. We are apt to pity ourselves as we sit there, and to 
imagine that we are losing more than we really are. Good ser¬ 
mons and good prayers are printed in many books and papers, 
and we are able to read them at home, so we sometimes think 
it is just as well to do that, and let the attendance at Church 
go. But how many sermons and prayers do we read at home, 
I should like to know; or whose sermons do we read? Not 
attending Church means so much that we ought to try to con¬ 
trive some way to keep up our connections there, if possible. 

Is the sermon all there is which we can enjoy? We go to 
Church for a purpose, which is to give God service, to show our 
regard and love for Him, and to place ourselves in the ranks 
of God-fearing and religious people. If what we are required 
to do for Him is something which at times approaches the 
service given by the martyrs, even so we can give it, and the 
reward given to martyrs is sure—a Crown of Life. 

We often see the members of the Roman Catholic Church 
hurrying long distances, in all weathers, early and late, on their 
way to the Church. They do not go to be entertained or 
amused. They do not go because they will enjoy it. They 
go to say their prayers and worship God. Why should we not 
do the same? We see the Quakers at their long “meetings” 
where not a word is spoken; where there is no music and no 


168 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


beauty of service. They value and love their religious service, 
because it brings them nearer to God. They do not consider 
it a hardship to sit quietly in silence, but listen the better to 
the “Inner Light.” 

The religious pilgrims who visit the sacred shrines in Jeru¬ 
salem and in the East, who lie down at full length and measure 
the distances around these places with their bodies, repeating 
prayers continually with groans and tears and sighs, are not 
being entertained or amused, but are in their own way seeking 
God. 

“Shall I be carried to the skies 
On flowery beds of ease 
While others fought to win the prize 
And sailed through bloody seas?” 

If we really desire to attend Church, deafness need not pre¬ 
vent. 

We have at first to consider how many people there are who 
can hear, and yet do not go to church, so that if we do not hear 
a word, we are not losing any more than if we were not there. 

Then, we may remember how often the majority of people 
listen to a sermon, and forget it before they are out of the 
Church. If we ask them what was said or what was the text 
they know no more about it than we do, so we really lose no 
more than they; for if we can’t remember a thing it is lost to 
us, and we might as well not have heard it. 

Let us not speak of those unhappy souls who are always 
criticizing the sermon or the minister, for we are saved from 
such a temptation which might beset us. Any sermon of any 
kind, if we could hear it, would be a good one to us. 

But one who is studying lip reading earnestly and with a 
determination to conquer the ills of loss of hearing, may find 
in the service at Church much benefit, and after a while, pleas¬ 
ure. We may not hear the music, although the majority of 
deafened adults are able to follow the hymns, but by reading 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


169 


the lips of the singers and following the words in the hymn 
book, one has the dinest lip reading practice in the world. It 
is invaluable. This alone would be worth while to the speech 
reader. Sometimes there are five hymns in the service, and 
sometimes there are whole services of song. We should not 
neglect such opportunities. Then, selections from the psalms 
are read with responsive reading, and the Litany. Here is a 
fine opportunity to read the lips with the people we see around 
us. Let us not sit too far in front, but sit where we can 
watch the choir and the lips of people in the audience. The 
old fashioned wing pews, which are found in some churches, 
are especially good for lip reading. 

We have often wondered why we cannot follow the words 
of the minister. One particular reason is that the pulpit is so 
much elevated that we do not see the lips in their usual posi¬ 
tion. The teacher of lip-reading is always on a level with the 
pupil, sitting or standing directly in front, so that we are able 
to see her lips naturally, and watch the muscles around the 
mouth and lower jaw. This is an impossibility when the 
speaker is above our heads. 

Also, the eyes soon weary of being raised to such a level, 
and refuse to function, as they are obliged to in reading the 
lips. They droop and wander, and it becomes too much of an 
effort for us to follow the speaker. 

Then, the light which is used in Churches is very variable. 
“A dim, religious light/’ will never do for the lip reader 
and even if the light be sufficiently bright, in such large build¬ 
ings, there are many conflicting shadows, so that the speaker’s 
lips may be greatly obscured. 

Also, in some Churches, there may be a window, back of the 
pulpit, or near enough to cause the eyes to weary from the 
strain. All these things act adversely upon the lip reader. 

But another greater reason why we cannot follow sermons, 
lectures, and addresses, is because we have not learned their lan¬ 
guage. 


170 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


We study lip reading with the simplest words and phrases, 
even with syllables, while public speakers use the language of 
scholars and writers, and highly educated people. Where lip- 
readers would be taught to follow such a phrase as this:—• 
‘Mothers should train their children to do right.” Daniel 
Webster would say, “It is by the promulgation of sound morals 
in the community, and more especially by the training and 
instruction of the young, that woman performs her part towards 
the preservation of a free government.” This sounds a little 
ridiculous, but it is the best English, and we should learn to 
read it, if we wish to follow it. 

There is no other way. Fortunate it is for us, that after 
studying short words and syllables faithfully, long word's are 
much easier for us than short ones. If we have a favorite 
minister or public speaker whom we may often hear, we shall 
find him very helpful if we let him know our needs. Ministers 
are so kind; they only wish to be of service. They will lend 
you a sermon occasionally to read and study, so that you may 
acquire a knowledge of the vocabulary usually found in their 
work, and this helps immensely. 

To be able to understand one phrase, only one good sen¬ 
tence, will make the whole week happier. To quote the words 
of good Dr. Vernon: “What does the Church do for you? It 
takes you into its care when you are born. It follows you all 
your life, in sickness, in health, in adversity, in prosperity, and 
at the end it takes you in its arms and carries you to Heaven. 
What do you do for the Church?” 


“Is it not told, hast thou not understood 
That through all change, all suffering, all strife, 

The world moves ever toward some final good 
In richer forms, and more abundant life? 

For lo, the scroll, unrolling, comes alone 
From out His hand who sits upon the throne!” 

Samuel Valentine Cole. 



“ DEAF, TOO! 


Deafness wears many aspects. To some it comes creeping 
slowly and unnoticed until it is upon them “ere they are 
aware.” To others, it comes like a thunder clap out of a clear 
sky, surrounding, enveloping and crushing. This is what has 
made life so hard for our young soldiers who became deaf 
from shell shock, gas, or sudden illness. They were so help¬ 
less it required a long time for them to adjust themselves to 
the loss of the sense of hearing. 

With progressive deafness there is time to prepare, time to 
adjust the burden to the sad heart which is to bear the heavy 
load. 

The story is told of a very brave man, who knew that he was 
going to lose his sight. He was given one year, and then it 
would be total. One cannot imagine a worse situation! But 
he called to his aid great courage. He prepared a campaign in 
which he could fight the evil to come. Thinking over what he 
most wished to see, he began to travel. All the great cities of 
the world he visited; all the noble works of art, all the beauti¬ 
ful pictures, all the great rivers, mountains, and natural scenery, 
he studied them all with his failing sight. All the noted people, 
all the great of the world, he placed in the wonderful picture 
gallery of his mind. Then one day, when he was out on a 
stream, with fishing rod and line, he saw the black veil come 
up over his eyes, never to be lowered. But blindness had lost 
its terrors: he had fitted himself for it. He had faced it and con¬ 
quered it. He had a storehouse full of beautiful memories. 

Many people who become deaf after having had their hear¬ 
ing a long time seem to think that it is useless to try to remem¬ 
ber what sound is like; they stop listening even with the hear¬ 
ing which remains. This is a pity. 

Miss Sullivan, who was Helen Keller’s teacher, says: “Every¬ 
thing we have seen and heard is in the mind somewhere. It 
may be too vague and confused to be recognizable, but it is there 


172 Lip Reading Made Easy 

all the same, like the landscape we lose in the deepening twi¬ 
light." 

If this is true, is it not well for us to store our memories 
with all the good music, all the pleasant sounds we may? If 
Hamlet, with his “mind’s eye," could see supernatural things, 
we may, with our inner ear, still enjoy what we will. 

John Keats, in his beautiful poem, says: 

“ Heard melodies are sweet, 

But those unheard are sweeter; 

Therefore ye soft pipes—play on,— 

Not to the sensual ear, but more endeared 
Pipe to the spirit, ditties of no tone." 

We know very well that there is an inner ear, a way of reach¬ 
ing the mind without the aid of the external ear. If the blind 
man is able to see pictures, we are able to hear music. Bee¬ 
thoven is the best known example of the deaf musician; he 
heard his wonderful harmonies without an instrument, and with 
his perseverance he was able to transcribe them and give them 
to the world. 

One of the performers at an entertainment given at a lip- 
reading school sang “Sweet Alice Ben Bolt." She sang the 
words so plainly and with so much expression that it was very 
much enjoyed by every one. They were surprised to learn aft¬ 
erwards that she sang without making a sound! The question 
then was, “What did they enjoy?" They enjoyed the senti¬ 
ment of the words, the memory of other times when they had 
heard it and they enjoyed the music which they could hear with 
the inner ear. If Beethoven could carry all those intricate har¬ 
monies in his mind, hearing so many different instruments at 
once, it would be strange if we could not carry a simple melody 
like “Ben Bolt." 

A young lady was once travelling in a foreign country. She 
was to play a certain piece of music at a concert on her arrival 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


173 


at a certain city. She had the music with her, but it was new 
to her, and she had never played it. She began to study it by 
playing it over and over to herself on the train; she committed 
it entirely to memory, so that when the time came she was ready 
to play it and without the notes. This is an example of what 
may be accomplished even without the sense of hearing. 

The study of the words of songs is in itself a pleasure, and 
leads directly to the study of poetry, which is a never-failing 
source of pleasure, and to 

“All lovely tales that we have heard or read, 

An endless fountain of immortal drink, 

Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.” 

“Of making many books there is no end,” and there cannot 
be too many for the deaf individual. Where the blind man s 
reading must be limited to books printed especially for him the 
deaf man is able to read all. 

Sometimes deafness does not seem so bad. Many cases are 
known where a person is old, or ill, or partly paralyzed, or 
crippled, and we pity him, and then we hear “Yes, and he is 
deaf, too.” “Deaf, too!” The deafness is a side affair. It is 
nothing. He could easily bear that, if that were all! Because 
he does not suffer pain with it, it seems nothing. Where to us 
it is the most absorbing thing in life, can we not look at it in 
this way “Deaf, too!” and be thankful that loss of hearing is 
all we have to bear? 

In the American Magazine for June, 1923, Mr. William 
Johnston had a very brave article entitled, “The Luck of Being 
Lame.” His experience coincides with what deaf people meet, 
and he makes out a very good case. He states that a handicap 
such as lameness or deafness may be a blessing in disguise. 
He states that the dictionaries define a handicap as being an 
extra burden placed upon a superior contender to make the 
chances more equal.” 


174 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


Looked at in this way deafness is intended to make the race 
easier for the “other fellow,” as otherwise we might get too 
far ahead of him. 

Mr. Johnston gives a number of points which it is well for 
all deaf people to consider and prove for themselves. First, 
he says, that a handicap strengthens the character. Second, 
a handicap reveals the kind side of other people. He goes on 
to tell some of the many kindnesses which he is receiving all 
the time on account of his handicap, instances which I am sure 
every deaf person might duplicate. 

He says, third, a handicap demonstrates the body's adaptabil¬ 
ity; this is especially true for deaf people in the way the eyes 
assist the ears in reading the lips. 

He says, fourth, a handicap is an incentive to effort and the 
final point he makes is that a handicap adds to happiness. 

This last statement seems almost incredible, but the writer 
proves it by saying that a handicap never really interferes with 
anything one wants to do, for it teaches him to adapt his wants 
to the things he can do. 

In the story of Doctor Marigold given in this book, it will 
be observed that when the manager of the Deaf and Dumb 
Establishment asks Doctor what he wants Sophie to be taught, 
he replies, ‘7 want her, sir, to be cut off from the world as little 
as can be, considering her deprivation ” 

The story is told of Moses Mendelssohn, who was the father 
of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, the musician, that after he had 
found the young lady whom he desired for his wife, she could 
not accept him because he was deformed, he was a hunch back. 
He was very highly educated, and had every good quality, and 
she admired his character but could not bear to be with him. 
Her father informed him of this fact and of the reason for it. 
The Rabbi, as he was called, on account of his great learning, 
asked that he might see her, and he “went and sat down by the 
young lady, who was sewing. They conversed in a most friend- 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


175 


ly manner, but the girl never raised her eyes from her work 
and avoided looking at him. 

At last when he had cleverly turned the conversation in that 
direction she asked him, “Do you believe, then, that marriages 
are made in heaven?” “Yes, indeed,” said he, “and something 
especially wonderful happened to me! At the birth of a child 
proclamation is made in heaven, He shall marry such and such 
a one. When I was born, my future wife was also named, but 
at the same time it was said, ‘Alas! She will have a dreadful 
hump back/ ” 

“O God,” I said then, “a deformed girl will become em¬ 
bittered and unhappy, whereas she should be beautiful. Dear 
Lord, give me the hump back, and let the maiden be well and 
agreeable.” 

Scarcely had Moses Mendelssohn finished speaking, when the 
girl threw herself upon his neck. She afterwards became his 
wife, they lived happily together, and had good and handsome 
children whose descendants are still living. 


Hast thou named all the birds without a gun? 

Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk? 

At rich men’s tables eaten bread and pulse? 

Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust? 

And loved so well a high behavior, 

In man or maid, that thou from speech refrained 
Nobility more nobly to repay? 

O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine! 

R. W. Emerson. 



COUP DE GRACE 


I am moving about the world in a circle of curious silence; 

My lips and my heart and my hands feel pulseless and numb 
and still; 

It is done, the sound in my ears of the horrible crash and 
breaking, 

When the towers of my faith fell headlong, shattered, from 
their hill; 

The people stare as I pass with my icy peace around me— 

Can they see them, the shards I see, that were towers of rose 
and gold? 

Do they turn because of my eyes fixed wide on a place of 
ruin, 

As I pass them, speaking and moving from my circle of far- 
off cold? 

I suppose I shall presently wake to the pain of the wounds I was 
given 

When my life lay crushed in the ruins that last night were so 
strong and high. . . . 

But now for a merciful space there is only the cold. . . . and 
the silence. . . . 

And nothing left more to break—and nothing left more to die. 

—Margaret Wildermere in “The Wanderer.” 


RIP-RIP 

The Spanish Story of Rip Van Winkle 
Translated from the Spanish of Manuel Gutierrez Ndjera 


This story I am going to tell you I do not know to be true, 
for I did not witness it myself, but I believe that it really 
happened. 

What wonderful things come into the mind when the eye¬ 
lids close! It seems impossible that we should vision so many 
people and so many things! The mind is like a senora, when 
the eyelids close, who in closing her balcony enters into the 
room to see what may be in the house. 

Very well, then, this house of mine, this house of the glancing 
senora which I have, or that has me, is a palace, it is a country 
seat, it is a city, it is a world, it is a universe; but a universe 
in which the present, the past, and the future are always face 
to face. In order to judge about what I see when I am sleep¬ 
ing, think for me, my readers, or even for yourselves. 

Oh, what things the blind must see! Those whose eyes 
always are sleeping. What must they imagine! Love is 
blind, according to the story; and love is the only thing which 
shall see God. 

From whence is the legend of Rip-Rip? I have heard that 
Washington Irving has gathered it together in order to give it 
a literary form in some of his books. I know that there is a 
comic opera with this title and with the same argument. But 
I have not read the story of the North American novelist and 
historian, neither have I heard the opera. 

But I have seen Rip-Rip! 

If it were not a sinful supposition, I would say that Rip-Rip 
was the son of the monk, Alfeo. That monk who was a Ger¬ 
man, slow, phlegmatic, and even, I presume, somewhat deaf; 



178 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


he who passed one hundred years, without knowing it, listen¬ 
ing to the song of a bird. 

But Rip-Rip was more of a Yankee, less affected by music, 
and more a whiskey toper; he slept during many years. 

Rip-Rip, as I tell you, slept, I do not know why, in some 
cave he had entered, who knows for what. But he did not 
sleep so long as the Rip-Rip of the legend. I believe that he 
slept ten years—perhaps five—perhaps one—at any rate, his 
sleep was short enough; he slept badly. But the idea is that 
he grew old sleeping, for this happens to those who sleep too 
much. And as Rip-Rip had no watch, and even if he had had 
one, he could not have wound it every twenty-four hours; and 
as calendars had not then been invented, and as in the woods 
there are no mirrors, Rip-Rip could not keep any account of 
the hours, the days or the months that passed while he slept; 
neither could he be aware that he had become an old man. 

It always happens so: a long time before one himself realizes 
that he is growing old, others know it and speak of it. 

Rip-Rip, yet somewhat drowsy, and feeling a little ashamed 
at having spent a whole night away from home—he who was 
such a trusting and sensible husband—said to himself, not with¬ 
out a slight feeling of dread;—Let us go home! 

And thither goes Rip-Rip, with a beard very gray (that he 
thinks is very red), crossing with much trouble some narrow 
and almost inaccessible pathways. His knees tremble, but he 
says—It is the result of my sleeping so much. But no! it was 
the effect of old age, which had crept upon him while he slept. 

And so, walking along, walking along, poor Rip pondered to 
himself: My poor wife! My poor little wife! How alarmed 
she must be! I will not tell her what has passed. I must tell 
her I was ill, very ill. The day is beginning—it is now dawn¬ 
ing, which means that I have passed a day and a night away 
from my home. But what did I do? I had not been to the 
tavern—I did not drink anything—without doubt some kind 



Lip Reading Made Easy 


179 


of illness surprised me in the mountain and I lost my senses 
in the cave. She would be looking everywhere for me 
why not, if she loves me so much, and is so good? She has 
not been able to sleep. . . . She would be weeping. . . . And 
how hard for her to come alone, in the night, over this rough 
road! But alone? No, she would not have to come alone. 
They like me very well in the town there, I have so many 
friends . . . chiefly there is Juan, the miller. Surely, when such 
affliction came to her, everyone would be willing to help her 

hunt for me. . . . Juan principally. But there would be the 

little one? and my boy? Would she carry them with her? At 
such an hour? In this cold? It might be so; because she 
loves me so much, and loves her children so much and loves 
both of us so much, that she could not leave them alone, nor 
cease to look for me. What imprudence! She would hurt her¬ 
self ! Well, the first thing she—but which is it? . . . and Rip- 
Rip walked along and walked along—and could not run. 

He arrived at last at the town, which seemed much the 

same, although it was not the same. The tower of the parish 

church appeared to him to be whiter; the house of the magis¬ 
trate seemed higher; the principal shop had another door, and 
the men that he saw seemed to have different faces. Was he 
still half asleep? Was he yet ill? 

The first friend he met was the senor, the parish priest. It 
was he, with his green umbrella, with his high hat, that was 
the highest of all in the neighborhood; with his breviary, always 
closed; with his long coat always worn like a cassock. 

“Senor cura good day,” said Rip-Rip, touching his cap. 

“Pardon me if I do not give you anything, my son,” replied 
the priest. 

“I was not to blame, Senor cura. I had not been drinking— 
I had done nothing wrong. My poor little wife-” 

“I have told you already I have nothing to give you.” said 



180 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


the priest. “And yon better walk along to some other part of 
the town, for here they have plenty of beggars.” 

Beggars! Why should the priest speak like that? He had 
never asked for charity. He had not given to the church, be¬ 
cause he never had any money. He did not assist at the ser¬ 
mons in Lent because he worked all the time then from morn¬ 
ing till night. But he went to the seven o’clock mass all the 
days of the fiesta, and went to confession, and took his com¬ 
munion every year. It was not right for the priest to treat 
him with such contempt—It was not right! 

And he began to go along without saying anything, because 
he felt a disposition to thrash him, even if it was the priest. 

With a quicker step, Rip-Rip continued on his way. Fortu¬ 
nately the house was very near. Already he saw the light from 
the windows. And as the door was farther away than the 
windows, he approached the first window, in order to call out, 
in order to shout to Luz, his wife —Here I am! Don't cry any 
more! 

It was not necessary that he should shout. The window was 
open. Luz sat sewing very tranquilly, and at the moment in 
which Rip-Rip began to call, Juan—Juan, he of the mill, was 
kissing her upon the lips! 

“You have returned soon, my dear little son,” she said to 
Juan, smiling. 

Rip-Rip felt everything' turning red around him. “Miserable 
wretch! . . . Miserable wretch! ” he exclaimed, and staggering 
like a drunken man or like a very old man, he entered into the 
house. He wished to kill, but he was so weak that upon enter¬ 
ing the room in which they were talking, he fell to the floor. 

He could not rise, he could not speak; but yet he was able 
to keep his eyes open, very wide open and to see how his 
adulterous wife and his traitorous friend paled with fright. 

They were very pale. A stifled groan came from his wife— 
the same kind of a groan poor Rip had heard when a thief 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


181 


entered the house once—and then, the arms of Juan embraced 
him, Lut not to throttle him, but pityingly, charitably, in order 
to help him to rise from the floor. 

Rip-Rip would have given his life, his soul even for the 
strength to speak a word, a blasphemy! “He is not drunk, 
Lucia, he is ill.” And Lucia, although yet frightened, came 
closer to the unknown vagabond. “Poor old man! What is 
the matter with him? Perhaps he came to ask for alms, and 
has fainted from hunger.” “But if we give him much to eat it 
might do him harm. I will carry him first to my bed.” 

“No, not to your bed, for he is very dirty and wretched. I 
will call the servant and you and he can carry him to the inn.” 

A little girl entered at this moment: she exclaimed “Mama! 
Mama! ” 

“Do not be frightened, my life, it is only a poor old man.” 

“How ugly he is, mama! What a fright! He is like a 
'coco. ” 

And Rip listened and heard everything! 

He saw also; but he was not certain about what he saw. 
This little room was just the same—his own little room. In this 
arm-chair, made of wood and leather, he had often seated him¬ 
self when he returned home weary, after having sold the wheat 
from his little piece of land to the mill where Juan was the 
manager. These curtains at the windows were his extrava¬ 
gance. He had bought them at the cost of much saving and 
much sacrifice. Here was Juan; here, Luz, but they were not 
the same. And the little one was not the little one any longer! 

Could he have died? Was he insane? But he knew that he 
was alive!' He listened—he stared—as one hears and sees in a 
nightmare. 

They carried him to the inn, on their shoulders, and left him 
there because the little girl was afraid of him. And Lucia 
went away with Juan—and no one wondered that they went 


182 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


away arm in arm, or thought that she should leave her hus¬ 
band for this poor wretch, half dead. 

And he could not move, could not cry out, to say I am Rip! 

At last, after many hours which seemed many years, or per¬ 
haps like centuries, he could speak. But no one knew him, no 
one wished to know him! 

“The disgraceful fellow! He is a fool,” said the pharmacist. 

“We ought to take him to the magistrate; he might become 
furious,” said another. 

“Yes, that is true; we could bind him if he resists.” And 
they began to try to tie him; but grief and anger had restored 
his strength to poor Rip. Like a mad dog, he attacked his per¬ 
secutors, succeeded in freeing himself from their arms, and 
breaking into a run, he started towards his house—he went to 
kill! But the mob followed him, they surrounded him. It was 
like a hunting party and he was himself the wild and hunted 
animal. 

The desire to save himself now overcame everything. His 
first wish was to get out of the city, to gain the mountain, to 
hide himself there and return later with the night, in order to 
avenge himself and do justice. 

He succeeded at last in deceiving his persecutors. There 
goes Rip like a hungry wolf! There he goes to hide in the 
thickest woods. He was very thirsty, so thirsty he felt as if 
he were burning and he went directly to the spring—to drink— 
to sink into the water, to beat it with his arms, perhaps, per¬ 
haps to drown. 

He approached the brook and there, upon the surface. Death 
seemed to receive him. Yes; it surely was Death, in the 
figure of a decrepit old man, which was reflected in the crystal 
of the water. Without doubt this terrible livid spectre had 
come to him. It was not flesh and bone certainly; it was not 
a man, surely, for it moved at the same time that Rip moved, 
and its motion did not disturb the water. It was not a corpse, 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


183 


for its hands twisted and untwisted. But it was not Rip!; no 
it surely was not he! It seemed like one of his own grand¬ 
fathers, who had appeared to him to take him away to his dead 
father. But my own shadow?—reasoned Rip—why does not 
my own body reflect in this surface? Why is it that I do not 
see any other person and why is it that when I shout, the echo 
of these mountains repeats only my own voice and not that of 
some unknown person? 

And Rip went to look for himself in the bosom of the 
waters! And the poor man must surely have found his dead 
father, for Rip has not returned. 

* * * * * * 

Do you think that this is an extravagant dream ? I have seen 
Rip very poor; I have seen him rich; I have beheld him young 
and also old; occasionally in the hut of a woodsman, at times 
in a house whose windows are draped with white curtains; 
now seated in a chair of wood and leather, now upon a sofa 
of ebony and satin—it was not only one man, there were many 
men, perhaps all men. I cannot explain to myself why Rip 
was unable to speak; nor why his wife and friend did not 
recognize him in spite of his looking so very old; nor why, 
before he escaped from the mob, did they propose to tie him as 
if he were insane, nor do I know how many years he had lain 
unconscious in that cave. . . . 

How long did he sleep? How long a time is it necessary 
for those whom we love and who love us to forget us? Is it 
a fault to forget? Those who forget are they wicked? Just 
see how good were Lucia and Juan when they hastened to as¬ 
sist poor Rip who was so helpless. 

The little girl was frightened of course, but we could not 
blame her; she did not remember her father. All were inno¬ 
cent, all were well-meaning ... but nevertheless it was terribly 
sad. 

Jesus the Nazarene was right in raising only one man from 


184 


Lip Reading Made Easy 


the dead, and that one a man who had no children, and had 
only just died. Surely it is well, to pile a great deal of earth 
upon graves. 

From Cuentos Castellanos. By permission of D. C. Heath 
and Co. 



“Thou whom these eyes saw never! Say friends true 
Who say my soul, helped onward by my song, 

Though all unwittingly, has helped thee, too? 

I gave of but the little that I knew; 

How were the gift requited, while along 
Life’s path I pace, could’st thou make weakness strong! 
Help me with Knowledge—for Life’s Old—Death’s New! 

—Robert Browning 











V 








\ 









/ 





INDEX 


Part I 


Address to the Class. 95 

An Alabama story. 107 

An Irishman’s “bull”. Ill 

Artemas Ward. 36 

At the Caf§. 93 

At the Dry Goods store.... 92 

At the Fruit store. 92 

At the Milliner’s. 91 

At the Shoe shop. 90 

Authors 

Collier, Franklin.. 56, 57, 58 

Dekker, Thomas. 89 

Emerson, R. W. 6 

Houghton, Lord. 44 

Lauder, Harry. 75 

Loftus, Cecilia. 76 

Longfellow, H. W. 124 

Merrill, E. M. H. 109 

Pollard, Josephine. 94 

Stratton—Porter, Gene 

96, 97, 100 

Ward, Artemas. 36 

Warner, Anna B. 41 

Whiting, Edward E... 56, 58 

Banking and Finance. 39 

Brain Teasers. 117 

Colloquial phrases. 65 

Conversation.... 19, 22, 73, 74 


Daddy, is today tomorrow? 39 

Dedication. 5 

Dekker, Thomas. 89 

Desert colors. 98, 99, 100 

Dirge. 50 

Euphorbia . 96 

Facts about Pres. Calvin 

Coolidge . 57 

Family life. 66 

Foolish proverbs. 75 

Fortune and the boy. 97 

Games 

A garden. 79 

Come she come. 82 

From the pantry shelf.. 117 

My favorite cake. 117 

Spelling and pronouncing 83 

Higher mathematics.... 31, 32 

Homophonous words. 87 

How to use the practice sen¬ 
tences. 13 14, 15, 16 

Illness in the family.... 48, 50 
Instructions and suggestions 

9, 11 

Letters—M, B and P. 23 








































188 


Index 


Letter S. 


26 

How oft my guardian.... 

124 

Letter R. 


34 

I fancied he was fled.... 

6 

Letters—D and T... 


38 

I know a lovely garden.. 

78 

Letter F. 


42 

O, sweet content!.. 

89 

Letter N. 


51 

Over and over again.... 

94 

Letter H. 


59 

Old New England. 

52 

Letter L. 


68 

Self-reliance.. 

47 

Letters— G, K and G.. 


77 

Solitude. 

86 

Letter W . 


84 

Sunday night. 

28 

Letters—Fr and FI... 


101 

The Days. 

37 

Letters—Cl and Cr... 


105 

The criss cross baby.... 

108 

Letters—Sh. 


110 

’Tis a long time to come 

56 

Letters—St . 


114 

Proverbs. 66, 

, 70 

Literature . 


55 






Riddles. 

116 

Memorial Day Address.... 

58 



My auto. 


116 

Salutations. 

19 




Sancho Panza. 

17 

Otto Grow. 

56, 57, 58 






Thanksgiving Day. 

81 

Parable of the sower.. 

119, 

120 

The brave officer. 

103 

Parable of the Good Samari- 


The colored stevedore.... 

62 

tan. 

121, 

122 

The concert singer. 

82 

Preface. 


7 

The fisherman. 

28 

Poems 



The insane patient. 

56 

German poem. 


67 

The only thing. 

63 

A fair little girl... 


43 

The old sampler. 

64 

A college song. 


54 

The small Italian children 

80 

Daffy Down Dilly. 


41 

The talkative wife. 

112 

Dirge. 


50 

The two frogs. 

88 

Euphorbia_ 


96 

The two roads. 

112 

Freedom. 


76 

The popular girl. 

25 

Half a league. 


60 

The value of a smile. 

115 


Part II 


Alden, John and Priscilla.. 143 


Bell, A. Graham. 132 

Billings, Josh. 151 

Browning, Robert. 185 


Collins, Wilkie. 162 

Cole Samuel Valentine.... 170 

Coup de Grace. 176 

Cone, Helen Gray. 136 

























































Index 


189 


Dante and Beatrice. 143 

“Deaf, too! ”. 171 

Deafened Adult in relation 

to the Church, The. 167 

Dickens, Charles. 154 

Emerson, R. W. 164, 165 

Evangeline and Gabriel.... 142 

Eavesdropping . 165 

Greek Poem, A. 135 

Hast thou named. 175 

Hide and seek. 162 

Howland, Esther. 141 

Is it not told?. 170 

Johnston, William. 173 

Katherine and Petruccio... 141 

Keats, John. 172, 173 

Keller, Helen. 171 

Koran, The. 166 

Let me go where’er I will 164 
Lowell, Amy. 159 

Marigold, Doctor. 154 

Mendelssohn, Moses. 174 

Musset, Alfred de. 127 

Moschus. 136 


Najera, Gutierrez. 177 

Peasant and Bear. 152 

Peasant and Hare. 153 

Pierre and Camille.... 127, 131 

Rip-Rip. 177, 184 

Robin Hood and Maid 

Marian . 141 

Romeo and Juliet. 141 

Russian Fables. 152, 153 

Simple-souled old woman 152 

Sullivan, Miss Annie. 171 

Sun Dials. 131, 143, 161 

The Telephone. 134 

The man who played God.. 138 

Then welcome each rebuff 126 
Thou whom these eyes.... 185 

Two Peasants. 152 

Two Peasants driving. 153 

Way of the White Souls, 

The. 136 

Wildemere Margaret. 176 

Winter’s Turning. 159 

What deaf people can do.. 144 
Valentine Party, A. 141 





























































a 













































